Second Choice
by sleepingdead
Summary: Tohma is an optimist. So when his wife leaves him, and his house burns down, all he sees is opportunity. Tohma x Shuichi with some Yuki and Ryuichi mixed in there somewhere. Finished!
1. Big Fire

No own Gravitation. 

Tohma x Shuichi

--This is a humor fic.  Keep that in mind.

Chapter 1 

            Tohma crossed his arms behind his head and leaned back in his chair, smiling contently as he stared out the window of his office.  He had been doing that a lot lately, though occasionally he felt guilty about being so happy, he could not deny that it felt good to finally be free.

            The divorce was final.  He was once again single.  He had known before they even got married that it wouldn't work; Mika was much too strong-willed for that, but it had been an arranged marriage that neither could get out of.  Tohma had been determined to make it last as long as possible, and he felt proud to say that he did.  The divorce had not been his fault, or at least not directly.  Sure, he _had_ been spending more time at work than at home, and he rarely even tried to make time for Mika.  Though he never heard her complain about his absence once, so he never felt the urge to change it.  That still gave her no excuse.

            The one day Tohma had decided to be nice and come home early for dinner, Mika certainly hadn't been expecting him.  Hearing noises from the bedroom, he had gone to investigate, only to find his wife in bed with someone whom he had never seen before.  He stood in the doorway and put on a mocking smile.  Mika didn't notice him standing there, so he had time to plan out a perfect strategy, which didn't take long at all, needless to say.

            "Hello, Mika-san," he had said, as if he had returned to find her watching television instead.  She had shrieked an ear-piercing scream, pulled the blankets around her, and the man she was with ran out like a coyote being shot at.  It made Tohma feel utterly powerful, and he loved it.

            Of course, as expected, Mika attempted to create an altercation with Tohma by blaming it on him, but it is hard for one to argue with Tohma when Tohma does not want to argue.  Tohma mostly agreed with everything she said, about the way he mistreated her and such, and this, as expected, only made Mika even more furious.  It all ended when she threw all her belongings (or at least all the ones that mattered to her) into a suitcase and stormed off, announcing her desire for a divorce and proclaiming how Tohma should be ecstatic because now he was free to screw her brother.

            Tohma was ecstatic for that very reason, and he did not deny it.  The smile continued to tug at his lips as he watched a car slide out of control and crash into a lamppost on the street below.  What a better life he had than those fools down there.  He was on top of the world, and nothing could bring him down.  Or at least barely anything could bring him down.  There still was one little problem that, though Tohma hated to admit it, he did not know how to deal with.  That was the problem of Shuichi.

            If only this had happened a year earlier, before Shuichi even entered the picture, Eiri would have been free game for Tohma entirely.  But now it almost seemed too late.  But the key word there was 'almost.'  Tohma knew he still could do something to turn Eiri away from Shuichi.  He just had to think.

            Tohma sighed when he saw the moon rise above the building across the street.  Time to close the studio, he decided.  He quickly checked to make sure the entire building was empty, remembering all too clearly what happened last time Ryuichi was locked in overnight, and then put on his coat (the black one with the feathers; it was one of his favorites) and left in his sleek red Mercedes.  That car and Tohma's money had been the only reason Mika had been reluctant to leave the marriage; in fact, she had even tried to fight for the car for herself, but Tohma had been able to convince everyone involved that it was indeed his car.  It was a great car.

            It took a long time to get home, since Tohma did live in a mansion nearly across town from N-G Studio, and it was already into the small hours of the morning before he finally turned onto the road leading to his front door.  Something was amiss, though.  He noted that a strange orange light was glowing over the trees surrounding his mansion.  He had a notion of foreboding, and was actually somewhat surprised to turn the corner and find his house completely engulfed in flames.  Still, despite that his house and all of his belongings were currently being incinerated, Tohma found himself staring at the fire in awe.  Truth be told, he had never seen a fire so large before, and he couldn't help but admit that it truly was beautiful.

            Stepping out of the car, he did not take his eyes from his house until he noticed a dark figure approaching him from the side.  Tearing his eyes away from the sight, Tohma looked up at a tall man that looked vaguely familiar, though he was rather dirty, and Tohma couldn't quite place him.  Not that it mattered; Tohma was really more concerned that the man would touch him and ruin his nice clothes.  He really liked his coat and did not want to get ash on it.  Luckily, the man stopped a few feet away from Tohma and merely stood smirking.

            "Hello there," Tohma said, smiling.  The man's face contorted into an angry glare, and Tohma decided that it was a very grotesque expression, especially when coated with black soot and sweat.

            "Hello, Seguchi," the man growled.  "I hope you like my handiwork.  You deserve it for what you put Mika through!"

            Tohma squinted his eyes at the man, trying to match his face with all the others that floated through his mind.  At last, he gave up.  "Do I know you?"

            The man's expression faltered briefly before returning to its previous state, but Tohma still was able to catch the change.  "Hayashi Toshi," the man spat out, his eyes glowing with hate.  "I am the one your wife is really in love with."

            "Hmm," Tohma said, and peered over the man's shoulder at the flames, which seemed to have gone down a bit.  "Hayashi-san, would you by any chance have cell phone to call the fire department?  I would hate to have to burn this forest as well."

            "Wha—Hey, you bastard!  Don't you even care?" Hayashi cried, his mask completely breaking.  Tohma closed his eyes and smiled, and then flashed a dangerous glare at Hayashi, causing the man to jump back from the ferocity of it.

            "I'm really glad I had gotten this insured," Tohma said, allowing his glare to fade into another trademark smile.  "Well, then."  He turned and started into his car again, though a rough hand on his shoulder pulled him back.  Tohma slapped the man's hand away and immediately proceeded to examine the damage he had done to his coat.  Luckily it was black, so it didn't seem to be completely ruined, though he might have to put forth another large sum of money to get it replaced if anything stained.  Of course, he might do that anyway, seeing as though now it had his ex-wife's lover's sweat all over it.

            "You, you, you…you bastard!  I can't believe you!" Hayashi yelled, nearly stuttering over his own words.  "I just burned down your house and you don't care?"

            "Oh, that's right," Tohma said, smiling again, despite the damage that had been induced upon his coat.  "Why would I care?  It isn't as though anything in there is priceless.  And like I said, I have insurance.  I'm just taking a great deal of amusement out of the fact that this probably hurt you much more than it did me."  He flashed Hayashi another smile, and then jumped into his car quickly so that the man did not have another chance to mar his coat any further.

            It was actually a fortunate thing, Tohma decided.  Now he had an excuse to live somewhere else, and he knew exactly where that somewhere was.  He was smiling to himself as another plan began to form in his head.  If he could not get to Eiri from where he stood now, he would just have to move somewhere else.  Everything was working out perfectly; it seemed as though fate was on his side.  He was glad he had left his cell phone at home that day to be burned with the rest of the house.

========

            Shuichi rolled over and nearly fell off the couch.  He was used to sleeping there, since he did nearly every night, but this night it seemed particularly uncomfortable, probably since it was the first time he could remember that it had actually been his own fault.  Well, at least Yuki had reason to be mad, but it sure wasn't Shuichi's fault that he didn't know what the blender was actually used for.

            Shuichi thought he heard a knocking sound, but when he glanced at the clock, he decided it must have been his imagination.  After all, who would come to the door at two thirty in the morning?

            Shuichi was about to roll over when he heard another knock, though this was much louder than the previous.  He shrieked and felt himself crash onto the ground.  He sat there in a daze for a moment until another knock cleared his head, and he went dashing over to the door to answer it.  He didn't even have time to register who the person was before the said person spoke.

            "Good morning, Shindo-san."

            "Eh?" Shuichi said, rubbing one of his eyes harshly, almost as if he were trying to claw the thing out.  "Seguchi-san?"

            "May I borrow your phone?" Tohma said with his ever-present, ever-pleasant smile.

            "Mm, don't you have a phone, Seguchi-san?"

            Tohma shook his head.  "Well, I used to."

            Shuichi stared at Tohma for a while, and then decided that he wasn't going to elaborate, not to mention that even if he did, Shuichi might not understand him because Shuichi rarely did understand even half of what Tohma said.  Shuichi pulled the door open wider and staggered off to the side to allow Tohma inside.  He switched on the lights and was about to give directions to the phone when he noticed Tohma was already making his way over to it.  It was then that he remembered that Tohma came over here a lot.

            Tohma paused and removed his coat, holding it far away from him in the tips of his fingers as if it were the most disgusting thing he had ever handled.  He draped it across the couch's armrest, and then once again proceeded to the telephone.  Shuichi watched as he did this intently with both his eyebrows raised, but after a moment of contemplation, he decided it would be best not to know.

            "Who are you going to call?" Shuichi asked, sitting down across from Tohma, whom now was seated comfortably on the sofa with his legs crossed over the footrest in front of him.

            "Mm, several people," Tohma replied, pulling a phonebook out from under the coffee table and flipping through it.  "The police for one, the fire department for two, my insurance company for three, Mika-san for four, and possibly Uesugi-san, though I'm not sure I'm in the mood to talk to him right now."

            "Oh."  Shuichi thought about saying, "Make yourself at home," but he didn't see the need, since Tohma seemed to already have done that.  Instead he sighed and rested his head in his palm.  "Why are you calling the police?"

            Tohma smiled and opened his mouth to answer when a loud _thump_ came from the hallway leading to the back rooms.  Both looked up to see Yuki standing there, complete with bags under his eyes, but he still glared at Tohma irritably.

            "What are you doing here?" he snarled.

            Tohma turned his smile on Yuki.  "I'm using your phone."

            Yuki narrowed his eyes at Tohma, though it could be told that Tohma's answer had taken him by surprise.  At last, Yuki's eyes seemed to glaze over, and looked unsure as to whether this was a dream or not.  He looked over to Shuichi for help, but the latter merely shrugged.

            Tohma seemed to have already forgotten the others' presence as he picked up the phone and began dialing, occasionally glancing at the phonebook where his finger was placed in the middle of the page.  He fell silent for a moment, until the faint ringing of the receiver stopped and a woman's muffled voice mumbled something.

            "Ah, yes, this is Seguchi Tohma," Tohma said, smiling, even though she could not see it.  "I'd like to report a case of trespassing, property damage, and arson."  There was a pause, in which Shuichi noticed that Yuki's eyes darted back over to him, but he ignored it and continued to stare intently at Tohma.  "Hayashi Toshi."  Another pause.  "All right, thank you.  And would you possibly report this to the fire department?  Or shall I call them instead?" Yet another pause.  "All right, then.  Goodbye."  He hung up the phone and sighed, then smiled up at Yuki.  "She was nice."

            "You mind telling me what's going on?" Yuki said, lifting an eyebrow.

            "Hang on.  I've got to call my insurance company," Tohma said, flipping through the phonebook once again.

            "You mind?  They can wait, you know," Yuki said irritably as he sat down beside Shuichi.  "I think, since it's my phone, not to mention my time to sleep, you owe me an explanation."

            Tohma smiled and looked up from the phonebook.  "Fair enough.  My house burned down."  He paused, and his smile lessened but did not disappear completely.  "Or rather, someone burned my house down."

            "Are you serious?"

            Tohma laughed.  "Did you not hear the 'arson' part of my claim?"

            "Hn, so what gave you the urge to come to _my_ house to make your little phone calls?"

            "Where else would I go?"

            "Maybe a payphone?"

            Tohma shook his head.  "Wouldn't that be a tad inconvenient, since I don't have any change?"

            Yuki growled.  "Why the hell are you answering all my questions with your own questions?"

            "Would you like me to answer differently?"

            Shuichi snickered, and Tohma smiled at him, though his eyes wandered back to Yuki as the latter stood up angrily.

            "Fine, do what you want," he spat as he started off towards the back again.  "Just keep it down, okay?"

            "Oh!  Eiri-san!" Tohma called, stopping Yuki from disappearing into the dark hallway.  Yuki turned around agitatedly and grunted.  "When you say, 'do what you want,' would you, by any chance, mean—"

            "No!" Yuki barked.  "You are not staying here!"

            Tohma stood up now as well.  "Where else will I go?"

            "Do you think I care?  Go to a hotel, or something," Yuki muttered angrily.

            "But I don't have any money."

            "That's what banks are for."

            "Eiri-san," Tohma said softly, shifting his weight to his right foot and smirking dangerously.  "There are no banks open this late at night."

            "Then sleep in the studio."

            "My, you're being sour."

            Shuichi snickered again, though he knew it was the wrong thing to do immediately and swung his hands up to cover his mouth.  Yuki glared at him and began to approach, but Tohma stepped in front of him.

            "Just for a little while," Tohma said.  "I could sleep on the couch, if you have no extra room."

            "Forget it.  That's Shuichi's spot," Yuki replied.  Shuichi felt Tohma's eyes search him, and he turned his head ashamedly to the ground.  Apparently, Yuki seemed to want to make sure just _everyone_ knew how screwed up their relationship really was.

            "It's a large couch," Tohma said.  He turned to Shuichi.  "Unless, of course, that would make you uncomfortable."

            Shuichi shook his head, still unwilling to look up at Tohma.

            "Well then, that's that, I suppose," Tohma said, returning to his seat by the phone.

            "W-wait," Yuki called, shaking his head slightly.  Tohma looked up at him and smiled.

            "Yes?"

            Yuki sighed and turned back into the hallway.  After he was completely out of sight, Tohma picked up the phone and began to dial.  He waited only a moment after dialing to speak.

            "Hello, Mika-san?  I'm sorry to call so late, but you'll never believe what happened to me this evening."

TBC


	2. Stick Shift

Chapter 2 

            Yuki decided that that must have been an awful dream.  It couldn't have happened for real.  Despite that it was Tohma, no one would be so calm and, well, happy after their house had just been reduced to no more than a few square feet of ash and rubble.  It was a nightmare.  It was giving him a headache.

            And yet, he noted that if he lowered his newspaper from in front of his eyes so that he could catch a glance into the kitchen, he would find none other than _the_ Seguchi Tohma, making pancakes happily for three.  After confirming this, Yuki would once again lift the newspaper back in front of his eyes, staring blankly at a picture of the horrible wreckage of a car accident that took place in front of N-G Records the previous day, to shield his vision from the terrible hallucination.

            The phone rang, making Yuki's headache expand to the point just below the highest level of migraines; that is, the exploding heads level.  In fact, he was about to collapse to the floor to begin convulsing when the nettlesome shrill came to an abrupt halt in mid-ring.  This, however, was followed by a voice just as unbearable.

            "Oh, Hiro!" Shuichi yelled into the mouthpiece, and Yuki felt vaguely sorry for the guitarist on the other end.  After all, if Shuichi's voice was pushing Yuki's head on the verge of exploding from across the whole living room, imagine what horrible effects it was having on Hiro when being shouted straight into his brain…like a bullet.  Yuki just hoped the boy had enough common sense to stand at least five feet away from the receiver at all times.

            Yuki began to massage his temples as Shuichi continued to talk, repeating the lessons to enlightenment and the basics of meditation he had learned from his father while he was still a monk-in-training to inherit the family temple—before Seguchi had screwed up his life—in a desperate attempt to tune out the vexing sound.  It seemed to be working to some extent at least, until an equally annoying voice pushed its way into his head.  This voice was not exactly annoying in itself, per say, but Yuki knew that no man should ever have a voice quite so feminine.  It was rather high-pitched, and Yuki began to wish for the phone rings instead.

            "Eiri-san, would you like some pancakes?" Seguchi asked, holding up a well-balanced spatula that had about ten pancakes stacked on top of it.  Yuki lifted his eyebrow suspiciously.  He did not like the way Seguchi had said the word 'pancakes.'

            Yuki looked at Seguchi, whose face remained unchanging, and his gaze wandered down to the man's body.  He looked somewhat out of place, though Yuki couldn't figure out why.  He studied the clothes and frowned.  It was not the type of thing Seguchi usually wore; it was too plain.  Blue shirt, black jacket, black dress pants…

            "Hey, those are my clothes!" Yuki snapped, baring his teeth at Seguchi.  Seguchi merely widened his smile.

            "Of course.  All mine burned, remember?  And Shuichi's are too small, so—"

            "I don't think so," Yuki said plainly, narrowing his eyes to give Tohma a contemptuous dark look.

            Tohma chuckled.  "No?  Well then, would you like to rip them off of me?"

            "I can't believe you," Yuki growled, closing his eyes so that he would not have to look at the horrible disgracing of his clothes.  He liked that outfit, too.  "How long are you going to stay?"

            "Hmm," Seguchi sighed, his smile turning into a thoughtful frown.  "Well, I guess until I've overstayed my welcome."

            "You were never welcome," Yuki replied sourly.  "Get out."  He pointed towards the door.  There was a long pause, in which Yuki lowered his arm, angry at his muscles for their disappointing weakness.  He picked up the newspaper from off the table and began to grind his teeth together.

            "Would you like some pancakes?" Tohma repeated, pushing the spatula forward in another attempt to get Yuki's attention.

            "No," Yuki said curtly and raised the newspaper in front of his face, blocking Seguchi from sight.  He heard a light _clack_ of a spatula hitting a plate and was about to lower the newspaper to make some sort of snide comment when his head cracked in half from a new irritation returned.

            "YUKI !!!" Shuichi cried, pushing the newspaper out of Yuki's hands, and therefore tearing it roughly across the middle.  He didn't realize that he had done something mildly annoying at all, for he elaborated on his upset behavior without hesitation, "It's Hiro, Yuki.  It's awful!  His bike broke down.  Will you give me a ride to the studio?"

            Yuki glared at him.  "Me?"

            "Please?"

            "No," Yuki spat, and then proceeded to gather the shredded newspaper on the table.

            Shuichi's eyes began to tremble as tears gathered on his bottom eyelid.  "But, but, but," he stuttered, gasping as the tears began to flow, though Yuki just stared at him expressionlessly.  "I need a ride, Yuki!  If I'm late again, Seguchi-san will be so angry!"

            Yuki lifted an eyebrow and allowed his gaze to settle on Seguchi, whom was staring at Shuichi concernedly.  Yuki sighed, his eye twitching in irritation, and shifted uncomfortably in his chair.  "I think that he'll understand," Yuki said, allowing his frustration to dampen his voice so that it was barely above a whisper.

            "I know!" Seguchi cried, clapping his hands in delight, before Shuichi had a chance to respond.  He stepped closer to Shuichi and put his hands onto the singer's shoulders.  "I'll give you a ride!"

            "Oh, no, I don't want to get in the way of your busy schedule," Shuichi refused politely, shaking his head softly.

            "Oh?  So it's okay if you get in my way, but not his?" Yuki snapped, banging his fist on the table and causing the china to rattle slightly.

            Shuichi looked mildly disturbed by Yuki's outburst, but Tohma jumped in before anything more could transpire between the two.  "It's all right, Shindo-san," Seguchi said, smiling with his eyes closed.  "It won't be a bother.  In fact, it's on my way.  Remember, I work there too."

========

On the drive to work, Shuichi found out several things about Seguchi that he had never known before.  First of all, not only could the man drive stick shift, but he could drive it well.  Shuichi realized this by observing the way Seguchi shifted effortlessly from gear to gear as he accelerated.  This in turn led to Shuichi's next discovery: Seguchi liked to go really, really fast.

Shuichi found himself tensed and clinging to the insides of the car around him, watching the blurs of the other cars whiz by them as Seguchi zigzagged in and out of them.  And he was shifting, too.  Shuichi wondered how anyone could be so coordinated; he had nearly crashed Yuki's automatic the one and only time Yuki had let him drive.

            Seguchi must have been going forty miles over the speed limit, since the normal half hour drive took about five minutes at the most.  Tohma sped the car into the parking lot and brought it down to a screeching stop perfectly into a parking space.  He stepped out proudly and adjusted the black jacket he was currently wearing while Shuichi remained wedged in the passenger seat, his fingers locked in place and refusing his brain's orders.

            Tohma walked around the hood and opened the passenger door, forcing Shuichi out of his death-grip.  Shuichi stumbled out of the car, nearly falling headfirst into the pavement, but once he regained his balance, he looked up at Tohma with uncertainty.  Tohma merely smiled and adjusted the coat again.

            Tohma made his way into the studio with Shuichi trailing him closely.  Shuichi noticed that many people were staring at Tohma, though he wasn't sure if it was because Tohma looked odd in Yuki's clothes, which were quite large on him and rather tame compared to his usually flagrant style, or because he had Shuichi in tow.

            "Uh…  Seguchi-san…" Shuichi muttered as the two approached the elevators.  Tohma stepped forward and pressed the up button before stepping back to be even with Shuichi and smiling kindly at him.

            "Yes, Shindo-san?" Tohma said without allowing the smile to leave his lips.

            "Uhn…  How long are you going to stay with Yuki and me?" Shuichi asked awkwardly, shifting from foot to foot.

            "Until I find a new place to stay," Tohma said.  He allowed his smile to fade as he stared distantly at nothing.  "Unless you don't want me there," he added, forcing the smile back onto his lips.  "Eiri-san has already expressed his extreme dislike of my presence, so if you—"

            "No," Shuichi interrupted, shaking his head.  "Yuki's just a little grumpy.  I—" he was cut short by the ding of the elevator, and the two entered in silence.  Tohma pressed two buttons—one for the floor his office was located on, and another for Shuichi's rehearsal studio—and remained quiet until the doors closed and the elevator was in motion.

            "I'll give you a ride back tonight, if you would like," he said, smiling at Shuichi.  Shuichi paused, thinking twice about getting in a car with Seguchi Tohma at the wheel, but decided since it was a polite offer, not to mention he had no other way to get home, he would accept.  He nodded in agreement, which seemed to please Tohma greatly.  The elevator door opened with a ring, and Shuichi stepped out.  He watched as the doors closed, blocking Tohma from view, and then took off towards the studio so that Fujisaki would not complain about his late arrival.

TBC

========

Notes:  Chapter two equals success.  Yay!  I wrote this while I was in vacation in Arizona and Utah and Colorado.  It was a road trip.  I had to learn how to drive stick to go on it, hence the stickiness.  It's hard to drive for seven hours straight, but we visited an awesome Buddhist Stupa.  'Twas neat.

Mmm, before in all my other stories I used to spell Shuichi and Ryuichi's names like "Shuuichi" and "Ryuuichi," and I probably would have kept doing that, only my computer has Shuichi in its spell checker so I decided to spell it like that instead, since I'm way too lazy to add "Shuuichi," and "Shuuichi's."  Not to mention, unwilling to waste those precious bytes of memory.  Hey, those episodes take up a lot of space…  And I figured, if I'm gonna spell Shuichi like that, I might as well spell Ryuichi like that too.  So there.

Oh, yes, and I have no idea where I'm going with this story.  I was thinking lemon, but then I was thinking no, and I don't know.  It's just fun to make fun of their character personalities.  And I love to write rich arrogant shallow Tohma.  Oh, yes, and for all you Ryuichi fans, he'll probably come in soon, since this is a 'comedy' and what comedy is a comedy without Ryuichi?  Hmm?

…This is technically supposed to be humor, though I have no idea if it's turning out that way.  That's why I put the romance genre first.  If you want to take it as a comedy, go ahead.  If you want to take it seriously, be my guest.  Suggestions are welcome…?  Please?  And I post it one chapter at a time now, so more reviews come in.  That's how it works, I've noticed.

Then, until next time.

Cassi


	3. Sleep Hug

Chapter 3 

            Shuichi shifted on the couch and moaned.  He reached over for his alarm, but after being able to find nothing, he gave up and let it ring.  It was only then that he realized that there was actually no ringing at all, other than that in his ears, nor was there any alarm clock.  He began to wonder if it was possible that he actually did not have to get up yet, and after about five minutes of thought, he decided that maybe he didn't.  After all, it _was_ dark out, and even though he wasn't sure if that was because the sun was down or because his eyes were still closed, Shindo Shuichi was never awake during the nighttime hours.  Six in the evening to twelve in the afternoon was Shuichi's sleeping schedule.  In fact, he had not even seen the moon since that one time that Hiro's bike broke down and they had to walk home all the way from NG, which was pretty far.

            Shuichi's gaze settled on the other end of the couch where he saw the moonlight floating in to land on a few strands of golden hair.  Shuichi sighed and sat up lazily.

            "Are you still awake?" he whispered.

            "Yes, I am," Tohma replied in a voice softer than normal but not quite a whisper.  Shuichi could tell he was close to falling asleep.

            "Don't you ever sleep?" Shuichi asked, and then bit his lip after realizing that that may have sounded a bit rude.

            "I used to never go home," Tohma replied, though the humor had not left his voice.  "I became quite used to running on little sleep."

            "Why didn't you go home?"

            Tohma chuckled lightly, though he did not respond.  "And what are you doing up this late?"

            "Can't sleep, I guess," Shuichi replied.  He yawned and lay back down.  "Na, what time is it?"

            "I'd imagine it would be around one or two in the morning," Tohma replied.  "Though you're still a teenager.  I'm surprised you go to sleep so early."

            "I am not a teenager!" Shuichi said, using all his self-discipline to keep from shouting.  He didn't like to wake up Yuki in the middle of the night.  That was not a smart thing to do.  "I'm nineteen and eleven sixteenths!  You have to round that up, so I'm twenty."

            "Oh…"

            There were a few seconds of silence, in which Shuichi thought that Tohma might be going to sleep, but since he didn't want to be lonely, he decided to keep talking so Tohma wouldn't be able to.

            "Na, Tohma-san," Shuichi said, though he only realized afterwards that he had said 'Tohma-san' instead of 'Seguchi-san.'  Tohma didn't seem to notice, though, luckily.

            "Hmm?"

            "Umm, well, thank you for giving me a ride," Shuichi said almost blushing.  He smiled weakly, even though in the darkness Tohma would not be able to see it.

            "You're welcome," Tohma mumbled.  Shuichi looked at him closely, noting how the moon illuminated his pale face, and his long lashes over his closed eyes cast thin shadows across his cheeks.  Shuichi shook his head and looked away.

            "Na, Tohma-san," Shuichi whispered.

            "Hmm?"

            "Umm, well, I think you're really nice for giving me a ride."

            "Thank you," Tohma said, his voice even more incoherent than before.  Shuichi could tell that he was getting nearer and nearer to sleep.

            "Na, Tohma-san…"

            "Hmm?"

            "Well…"

            "Hmm…?"

            "I don't know," Shuichi said.  He sighed and took a long pause.  "It's strange.  I mean, I was perfectly happy with Yuki…but now…  Now, it's like, with you here…  Well, you're making me realize how…not fun…Yuki is, and I don't know what this means, but Yuki is really mean.  I know you like him and all, 'cause I like him too, you know, but sometimes it's just really hard to live with him, and I had gotten used to his moods but now I'm realizing how much more pleasant it is to live with someone without those moods.  I think I really like it, but I don't know what to do.  What do you think, Tohma-san?"

            Shuichi waited for about ten minutes, but after receiving no answer, he sat up and glared at Tohma.

            "Na, Tohma!  Aren't you listening?" Shuichi whined.  Despite his complaining, though, the room remained still and silent.  Shuichi sighed irritably and then turned to begin pouting, though he soon grew bored with that and let his body fall back down onto the couch again.  He made his body as still as his hyperactivity would allow him and listened closely, just in case Tohma was really speaking, just too quietly for him to hear.  However, Shuichi could only hear Tohma's scattered breaths.

            Shuichi stood up and donned the largest frown he could muster.  He stomped angrily to Tohma's side of the couch and hovered over him.  Lifting his finger carefully, he brought it forward in a well-placed poke on Tohma's cheek.  Tohma groaned and shifted, but his eyes did not open, nor did he answer Shuichi's question.  Shuichi wondered why Tohma was avoiding such a simple question.  It wasn't that hard to answer…

            "Na, Tohma!" Shuichi cried, just loudly enough so that he wouldn't wake Yuki up.  "Tohma, did you fall asleep?"

            Tohma still did not answer, and Shuichi knew that Tohma could at least answer that question, so he decided that he had indeed fallen asleep.  It was either that or he died, but Shuichi doubted that because he didn't think that people still breathed after they died.

            Shuichi decided that that was a rather rude thing to do, falling asleep while he was talking, and besides, he didn't want to be lonely, so he decided to wake Tohma up.  He leaned over Tohma and placed his hands on his shoulders, readying himself to wake the man with a severe case of whiplash, when Tohma muttered something.  Shuichi, thinking that Tohma had finally decided to answer his question, leaned in closer so he could hear, only to be pulled into Tohma's chest when the latter's arms wrapped around him in a firm sleep hug.

            Of course, now Shuichi was in a very uncomfortable position—in both a mental and physical sense.  His legs were hanging off the edge of the couch and pulling them both closer and closer to the floor, but Tohma would not release his death grip.  Shuichi found himself indulging his instinct—the one that told him that falling was a bad thing because pain awaited at the bottom—and swung his leg up onto the couch, stopping the two from crashing onto the floor, though he found himself in a new uncomfortable position, though this one was merely in a mental sense.  Now he had one leg on each side of Tohma's waist, reminding him of certain stances he and Yuki had taken one of those times when he had been allowed into the bedroom, not to mention his arms had somehow gotten beneath Tohma's neck, and his lips were resting on his cheek.  Shuichi whimpered and turned his head to the side, so now his jaw was being crushed into Tohma's cheek, and struggled to break free, though Tohma's sleep hug would not relent.

            "To-Tohma!" Shuichi cried, pushing his elbow against the cushion and therefore giving him a few centimeters of space from Tohma's face, though his weak arms were quickly tiring from fighting against Tohma's grip.

            Tohma muttered incoherently, and Shuichi had to listen closely to hear what he had said, though after he had figured out the meaning of the words, he gasped and allowed himself collapse against him again.

            "Shu-chan, you're so cute."

            Shuichi sighed and buried his face into Tohma.  This wasn't helping his Yuki problem much, but Shuichi rather liked this.  Tohma smelled nice.  Or, at least Shuichi thought he did, but he couldn't be sure if anyone else would; after all, he had gotten close to no one but Yuki for the past year or so, and Shuichi could only decided that Tohma smelled better than Yuki.  That is, Tohma didn't smell like cigarettes.

            Not only that, but Tohma was warm.  Shuichi wasn't cold; he didn't need the extra body heat, since it was still summer, and technically anyone who was alive was warm, but Shuichi didn't mean it literally.  Tohma was warm in that whole mushy way that people in movies always refer to.  Not like Yuki who was as cold as ice.  Yuki had body heat, sure, but he was still cold.  Not like Tohma.

            Shuichi sighed contently and leaned into Tohma even further as he drifted off to sleep.

========

            Yuki shifted in his bed and glanced that the digital clock, the only thing visible in the darkness of the early morning.  4:33 AM to be exact, according to the clock.

            It was a highly unusual thing for Yuki to wake up earlier than ten o'clock.  That probably had something to do with the fact that his occupation happened to be that of a novelist, and therefore he had no daily hours like Shuichi did.  He rarely woke up before Shuichi left, unless, of course, Shuichi happened to awake him with his loud clumsiness, though by now, Shuichi was well trained enough so that that rarely happened anymore.  Even so, it was still well before even Tohma, much less Shuichi, would wake up, so his sudden return to consciousness could not be blamed on either of them.

            But, then again, perhaps it could.  After all, the first conscious thought Yuki had after waking at such an ungodly hour was of Shuichi.  Not the usual annoyed, I'm-going-to-kill-that-idiot-for-being-so-blanking-loud thought, but more of the annoyed, that-idiot-hasn't-been-paying-enough-attention-to-me-lately thought.  Despite that he constantly acted as though he could not stand for Shuichi to be around for more than an hour, Yuki still liked that hour in which he could stand Shuichi to be placed somewhere within his day.  Yesterday, it had not happened, and now he was losing sleep over it.  Therefore, it was, if one thought about it, Shuichi's fault that he had woken up before ten o'clock.

            Yuki had never thought himself to be the jealous type.  In fact, he prided himself on being one of the few that did not sink to such shallow levels of human scum.  But he never realized before, when he had still retained that pride, that he had no one to be jealous of.  After all, the only people who could possibly be even considered as competition consisted of an airhead guitarist who didn't seem that homosexual and had been happy enough to pluck Yuki's discarded girlfriend off the reject's lineup, and a certain thirty-year-old, schizophrenic, hyperactive, five-year-old pop star with multiple personality disorder and whose best friend was a stuffed pink bunny.  Yuki had nothing to be worried about.  However, lately—that being as of yesterday—a certain new figure had stepped into his life and was quickly taking over.  Yuki had never even considered the possibility of Tohma; he never really even imagined that Shuichi would ever break that whole my-god-that's-THE-Big-Boss-Seguchi-Tohma attitude that he always seemed to have whenever Tohma was even mentioned, though lately—once again, that being as of yesterday—Shuichi had been becoming rather friendly with Yuki's former brother-in-law.

            Yuki did not like this.  He did not think that Tohma would sink so low as to try to steal his boyfriend to get whatever it was that Tohma wanted from Yuki.  Of course, that was not what was bothering him the most.  Even if it was Tohma, the genius of NG, Yuki had not expected Shuichi to fall so easily, as if he were never with Yuki in the first place.  Yuki did not like this at all.

            Even as he lay there, he felt his body tensing as pangs of jealousy overcame him.  He would just have to show the Big Boss who was boss, he decided.  In fact, he decided this with so much resolve that he stood up and marched out into the living room right then and there, with the intent to not only wake both of the traitors, but also to proclaim his thoughts to them and take control of the situation.

            Of course, once he reached the said living room, he stopped, his shoulders sagging in defeat, and all resolve disappeared from his mind as he focused on the pair of bodies sleeping peacefully on the couch—in each other's arms.  Shuichi, with his head nestled snugly under Tohma's chin, his legs wrapped around Tohma's body, his arms clutching Tohma's torso, was enough to make Yuki snap.  He glanced around the room for anything sharp to impale Tohma with; luckily, for Tohma at least, it was so dark out that it took Yuki too long to find an object sharp enough so that he would not have to exert too much strength to ram it in between Tohma's ribs, since he was still weak from sleep…or lack thereof, and his anger had a chance to calm.

            Instead of horribly mutilating Tohma, which Yuki still had a strong desire to do, though not strong enough to overcome his sleepiness, Yuki turned and lazily dragged his feet back to his bedroom.  This was the second time in a row he had awoken in the middle of the night, and he was tired.  This would have to wait until after ten o'clock.

TBC

========

Notes:  Yo!  Been awhile since I posted a new chapter.  Well, actually not _that_ long, but long enough to get it off the first page…  As for the reason…  Writer's block?  Well, school started, as painful as that is, and I've already got two essays to do, and I've only had three days of classes!  Actually, it's Saturday today, and I managed to finish the necessary homework, i.e. the homework that's due Monday…

This fic takes a lot of thought to write…well, not a lot, but more than I have when school's zapping my brain.  I'll try to keep writing more chapters, but I'm not gonna promise much.  Just don't worry.  I don't think I'll forget about this fic.

Na, before I promised Ryuichi, but not yet (obviously).  I would say next chapter, but then again, this chapter turned out longer than I expected, and I'm actually a chapter off than what I had originally planned.  And I've also begun to make this up as I go along again.  I hope you people aren't losing interest or anything.

Dunno what I'm gonna do with Ryu-chan though…  If he'll have a part, or if he'll just be randomly stuck in here for a few scenes…  hmm…?

Until next time.

Cassi


	4. Police Girl

Chapter 4 

            Shift.  Shift.  Shift.

            Shuichi gulped as they passed a red Volkswagen, missing it by barely a few inches.  He shut is eyes tightly, expecting the car to go spinning across the road at any second, though it never did.

            Shift.

            Shuichi gripped tighter onto the car door.  He whimpered and focused on something that wasn't zipping by them at dangerous speeds.  Tohma was looking straight forward, frowning, and appearing as though his full attention was on the road in front of him, which, of course, Shuichi hoped it was.  However, Shuichi got the feeling that Tohma's attention was divided.  After all, that was almost the exact copy of the look Yuki always wore when something was bothering him, only Tohma-ized.

            "Unnnn…  Seguchi-san?" Shuichi said just loud enough to be heard over the engine.  Tohma only seemed to respond by accelerated even faster, so Shuichi continued.  "Are you mad at me?"

            Tohma moved his gaze to Shuichi for the briefest of moments, only to quickly divert it back onto the road.  He cranked the wheel over just in time to avoid a collision with a car in front of him.  This one was blue, only Shuichi couldn't tell the make because it went by so fast.

            "No I'm not," Tohma said simply, though his tone was humorless.

            "If it's about what happened last night—"

            "Shindo-san, I said I'm not mad at you," Tohma repeated, though Shuichi still detected a hint of animosity in it.

            "But—" Shuichi started, though he cut off quickly when Tohma shot a dark glare his way.  He fell silent and returned to staring out the window at the blurs of the fellow cars.  Of course, when the fear of a collision rose up again, he turned his attention back to Tohma.  "Don't you think you're going too fast?" he asked.  It was the first time he had mentioned anything of the sort.

            "Don't worry," Tohma replied.  "I never get—"

            He was interrupted by the dull sound of sirens from behind.  Cursing softly, Tohma's hand made its way over to the stick and hovered over it for a few moments, in which he seemed to be debating whether to pull over or take off in a high-speed chase.  Shuichi whimpered softly, and he noticed that Tohma's eyes flashed over towards him before he slammed on the brakes, sending the car into a screeching stop.

            Shift.

            Shuichi sat for who knows how long, oblivious to the world around him, breathing heavily and wondering if it was possible that the seatbelt across his chest was able to squeeze his heart so much that it exploded.  However, when he ran his finger down his wrist, he found that he still had a pulse, meaning maybe it was actually his kidney that had burst.

            This worried him greatly.  He remembered hearing about those people who had to have kidney transplants.  He didn't want that to happen to him.  Of course, he didn't quite know what a kidney was, what it did, or where it was located, but he was pretty sure that that popping sound had indeed been his kidney, if not his heart.

            "Your driver's license please?" an exceptionally high-pitched voice put an abrupt end to Shuichi's worries as he turned to look at a small girl in a uniform peering into the car through Tohma's window.  Tohma handed her a card, and she began to write notes on her clipboard using it.  Shuichi took this quiet pause to study her carefully.

            The uniform she was wearing was that of a policeman, though Shuichi had never seen a girl policeman…or policewoman…before.  However, her face looked vaguely familiar—not because he had met her before, but because she looked exactly like the majority of his fan girls.  Her long hair was pulled into two pigtails and bleached.  It was a horrible bleach job, too.  It simply looked fake.  Of course, Shuichi noticed that most Japanese people with bleached hair looked fake, but this girl took it to the extreme.  He assumed she had done it herself, since he doubted any professional could make anyone's hair so incredibly ugly, but her hair was merely a crusty mass of dead yellow.  It clashed horribly with her eyes, which were a dark brown, too.  Not like Tohma.

            Shuichi lifted an eyebrow at Tohma.  He had never really thought about it before, but Tohma must have bleached his hair too.  He couldn't be _another_ naturally blond Japanese person like Yuki, but Tohma's looked so normal that Shuichi never thought that his true hair color might possibly be black.  After all, his hair had been blond throughout his entire career with Nittle Grasper, so he would have to have had kept re-dying it for years.  Plus, the color matched his eyes.  His eyes were a really pretty bluish color…

            Shuichi squeaked when he realized what he was thinking and turned away.  There were a few more minutes of awkward silence before the police girl spoke.

            "Wait, Seguchi Tohma?  THE Seguchi Tohma?"

            Tohma smiled at her, though it was not his usual smile.  It was more of a seductive gaze, accented when he rested his cheek in his palm with his elbow set on the door.  Shuichi frowned.

            "Yes, that would be me," Tohma said in a voice a bit deeper than normal.  Shuichi's frown became even larger.

            "And then, your passenger…" the police girl said as she bent lower down to look through the window at Shuichi.  There was a flash of disappointment across her eyes as she realized that it was not Sakuma Ryuichi, though recognition hit and the disappointment soon vanished.  "Shindo Shuichi?"

            Shuichi smiled shyly and lifted his hand in an awkward wave.  This only set the police girl off into a high-pitched squeal in which she bounced from foot to foot and shook her clipboard excitedly.  Finally she calmed herself down, though her face had become very red and her breath accelerated.

            "O-okay, just, um, just sign here," she pointed spastically to a spot on the clipboard as she handed it to Tohma.  "Just, right there, or anywhere's fine really…  I just need this…for reference purposes…right, that's it.  And…I need Shindo-san to sign too, of course…so we have a record, of course…  And then I'll let you off with just a, just a warning, and you can be on your way…"

            Tohma smirked as he nicely sighed his autograph across the side of the paper, and then he handed it to Shuichi.  Shuichi looked at the paper, noticing it was a ticket only halfway filled out with Tohma's license plate number and part of the make and model of the car, though that stopped mid-word.  He suppressed a giggle as he scribbled his name just below Tohma's and handed it back to the police girl.  The girl studied the ticket for a few seconds and squealed again.

            "Well, then," Tohma said and reached for his keys.

            "Oh!  Wait, um, Seguchi-san," the police girl said.  She leaned into the open window, arching her back as she scratched something onto a blank piece of paper just below the autographed ticket on her clipboard.  She giggled as she ripped it and handed it to him.  "If you don't want it, then maybe you could give it to Shindo-san or…Sakuma-san?"

            "Right," Tohma replied with a smile.  The police girl squealed for the third and final time, and then skipped off towards her patrol car.  Tohma held the piece of paper in his hand out to Shuichi, whom looked at it curiously.  On it was scribbled a name and phone number, of the police girl, Shuichi assumed.  "You want it?" Tohma asked.

            Shuichi shook his head, at which Tohma closed his fist, crushed the paper in his palm.  Shuichi gasped.

            "Hey!  You shouldn't do that!  It's mean!" Shuichi said.

            Tohma studied him for a second before breaking into a smile.  "Why?  It's her fault for pulling me over."

            "She was just doing her job.  And besides, you were speeding a lot!  And she was nice.  AND she didn't give you a ticket!  She deserves a chance!" Shuichi cried.

            Tohma shook his head.  "I'll never call her, and you said you didn't want it—"

            "That's not the point," Shuichi said sternly with a set frown.  He crossed his arms and looked out the window.  "You could have given it to Ryuichi."

            Tohma chuckled.  "Ryuichi-san would lose this within a few hours at the most."

            "Humph!" Shuichi stuck his nose in the air, and then let his body droop with a sigh.  "You coulda still given it to him.  You're just being mean."

            He looked back at Tohma, whose lips were pursed in an irritated frown.  He sighed angrily and shoved the paper into his pocket, and then started the car again.  Being pulled over obviously didn't teach him anything; he was going just as fast, if not faster, than he had been before the incident.

========

            "What?" Hiro asked, lifting one of his eyebrows at Shuichi suspiciously.

            "I think I'm in love with Tohma," Shuichi replied as he ashamedly looked towards the ground.  He scratched his elbow sheepishly, knowing that his cheeks were probably matching the color of his hair by now.

            "Tohma?  As in Seguchi Tohma?" Hiro asked, lifting the other eyebrow.

            "Ye—" Shuichi would have finished, only his voice cracked, sounding about as high-pitched as the police girl's for a second.

            "Hmm…" Hiro crossed his arms and yawned.  "He's related to Fujisaki, you know."

            Shuichi shuddered.  "Yes, I know."

            "And that doesn't repel you the slightest bit?"

            Shuichi clenched his jaw.  "I had considered it beforehand."

            There was a long pause.

"…Oh? …It's Gravitation…or something like that…" Hiro muttered as he turned and closed the door to the rehearsal studio behind him.  

Shuichi frowned and put his hands on his hips.  That didn't go quite as he had planned.  He had prepared himself for a surprised and irritated outburst from his long-time friend, and he had even figured out just how to counter pretty much everything Hiro could have come up with to argue why Shuichi should not be in love with Tohma—he even considered the blood relative of Fujisaki before he had approached Hiro.  However, he never would have guessed his friend would have had that reaction, or lack thereof.

            Not any reassurance or attempts to stop Shuichi for his own well-being…  Some friend Hiro was.  Shuichi was quite disappointed, so much so that he decided to dwell on it for a bit longer, since break wasn't over for another twenty minutes.  Therefore, Shuichi found himself wandering about the hallways of NG and getting lost among them as he contemplated his current standing.  He was in love with Yuki; that was his undying passionate first love bias—and yet, at the same time, there was something about Tohma that Shuichi had never noticed before, something, he supposed, one only realized after they began to live with him.  Shuichi wasn't sure quite what this something was, or maybe he just wasn't as gifted with words as Yuki and couldn't express it with his limited vocabulary, but he was undeniably attracted to it.

            Of course, that wasn't a good thing, he decided.  In fact, it was utterly awful, due to the fact that he was still with Yuki, and still wanted to stay with Yuki.  Meanwhile, even just thinking about Tohma in a positive light gave Shuichi the feeling that he was betraying Yuki, but he couldn't stop himself.  Truth be told, Yuki was his first love, and therefore he was having doubts as to whether Yuki was his true love.  After all, how could he be sure, when he had nothing to compare it to?  And if Yuki was his true love, then why was he straying farther and farther away?

            Shuichi was torn between his first crush and his new one, and he had no one to vent to seeing as though his best friend had seemingly decided to take a break from Shuichi's problems for whatever insane reason he would do that.  And as Shuichi thought about it, he realized that he really had no other friends, bringing him to the conclusion that he really wasn't as popular as he had originally thought.  In fact, before he had two people he would screech about his problems at—that being Hiro and Yuki.  Hiro being out of the picture for his own reasons, that left Yuki, but even Shuichi knew better than to talk to Yuki about something like this, even if the latter rarely listened anyway.  Even now that a new person had entered the picture—that being Tohma—Shuichi was definitely not ready to confess the feelings, because he did not want to get thrown in a state of chaos prematurely, before he even knew if the feelings were real.  The only other people…  Fujisaki was out of the picture, not only because he was cynical and harsh, but also because he was related to Tohma.  Sakano was definitely not a good choice because of his tendency to scream and whine at every little detail that he didn't quite like.  K?  Well, K had his own unique was of dealing with Shuichi's problems, most of which consisted of a handgun and advice to forget about it because it has nothing to do with music so shut up.

            Counting off on his fingers, Shuichi realized that that left no one.  Sighing heavily, he leaned against a wall and donned the most depressed look he could manage, just in case someone stumbled upon him and saw, which, to his incredible dumb luck, someone did.  It wasn't even one of the cumbersome people whose entire purpose of working at the studio was to annoy Shuichi either.  In fact, it was the one person Shuichi had forgotten to count as a possible friend and target for venting his problems; one that he had not even counted on his hand because he had always assumed that that person was much too high up in the social hierarchy of NG and would not even notice him at all; one whom he did not realize considered him to be a best friend.

            "Oi!  Shu-chan?  What's wrong?" Ryuichi asked as he stepped up to Shuichi and leaned forward so that their faces were dangerously close.

            "U-uhn, Sakuma-san," Shuichi squeaked as he attempted to lean away from Ryuichi's invasion of his personal space, though that proved impossible when his head hit the wall with a painful thump.  "Nothing's wrong."

            "Oh?  I don't believe you," Ryuichi said.  He stopped and reached into his pocket to pull out his Kumagorou.  He then held the stuffed rabbit parallel with his head and just as close to Shuichi's face.  "Kumagorou doesn't believe you.  Nope."

            "It's really nothing," Shuichi said as he attempted to shimmy to the side, but he was stopped by Ryuichi's hands on his shoulders, one of which was crushing Kumagorou's neck.  Ryuichi giggled maniacally before shoving Shuichi to the ground and straddling his waist as he held the boy's shoulders to the ground.

            "I think Shuichi is sad about Yuki," Ryuichi proclaimed proudly.

            Shuichi blinked up at the older man.  Normally it would have been a good guess.  Shuichi noticed that that was always Hiro's first guess…before Hiro had deserted him so rudely.  Now Ryuichi was taking his place.  Shuichi was happy.  And, truthfully, Ryuichi was halfway right, seeing as though the reason his crush on Tohma was bothering him so much was because of Yuki.

            Shuichi attempted to sit up, but Ryuichi pushed him back to the ground and stared at him sternly, or at least as sternly as his big puppy dog eyes would allow him.  Shuichi held a disapproving pout on his face for as long as his short attention span would allow, and then sighed, deciding that he might as well tell Ryuichi so that he could get up again sometime in his life.

            "Na, Sakuma-san?" Shuichi said, though he avoided eye contact.  Ryuichi lifted his eyebrows, so Shuichi continued.  "Have you ever had a crush on someone but felt bad because you were with someone else at the time and didn't want to leave that person?"

            Ryuichi shook his head.

            "Oh," Shuichi said.  He sighed again, but Ryuichi still had yet to let him up.  "Well, that's kind of my situation right now, and, and, and—"

            "And Shu-chan wants love advice?" Ryuichi asked, leaning in closer and finally catching Shuichi's eyes.  He grinned mischievously.  "So, let me see if I got this right…  Shu-chan is still in love with Yuki but he's getting a crush on someone else?"

            Shuichi nodded.

            "Oh, well, does this new person like you back?" Ryuichi asked.

            "I don't know," Shuichi replied.  "I think it's possible, but then I think it's impossible too."

            "Then, who do you want to be with more?" Ryuichi asked.

            "I don't know," Shuichi replied.  "I don't want to leave Yuki.  I'm still in love with Yuki.  Yes.  I love Yuki, but these feelings for Tohma—" Shuichi gasped and covered his mouth with his hand.  He looked up at Ryuichi shamefully, expecting to find the older man with a mocking grin on his face, but instead Ryuichi held a rather somber expression, and his big blue eyes carried a distant look.  Shuichi frowned as he attempting to ponder this, but he could not figure anything.

            "Tohma?" Ryuichi asked.  His head cocked to the side and he remained silent for a few seconds before breaking into another giggle.  "Shu-chan has a crush on Tohma?  You wanna know if he likes you back?"  Shuichi blinked at Ryuichi as the latter grabbed his wrist firmly and dragged him to his feet.  "Come on," Ryuichi cried as he began to drag Shuichi down the hallway towards Tohma's office.  "I know exactly how to tell."

TBC

========

Notes:  Nyaa, next chapter is gonna be full of Ryu-chan goodness…I think.  Dunno, I haven't written it yet.  But, if I'm lucky, my English teacher won't add another essay assignment to the already four existing ones I have, so I'll get it up quick…if that's the case.  If not, I'll be sad.  Anyway, next chapter will also contain Yuki's confrontation with Tohma, for those of you who are dying to know…

Until next time.

Cassi


	5. Strip Test

Chapter 5 

            Tohma leaned back in his chair and sighed.  He was bored.  It wasn't as though he had nothing to do—quite the contrary, his desk was stacked with a magnitude of paperwork ranging from new members waiting to be signed on, to Nittle Grasper's new lyrics waiting to be set to music.  No, he had plenty to do, so much that even if he started to work right then he would only finish about a quarter of it by sunset.  It was just that he was in that truly bored mood, the one in which one can stare blankly at nothing for hours with no desire to do differently.  

Lately, that being the last half hour, Tohma had found that his eyes tended to wander to the black, bold clock hanging on the wall above the door in between two picture frames, one of which was a group shot of Nittle Grasper and the other was a stage shot of Ryuichi.  There was a knick in the glass of the clock above the number three.  The second hand wasn't very accurate—Tohma noticed that it seemed not to move at all when it got near the six, but around the twelve it took huge jumps that equaled more than one sixtieth of the face.  The light made a glare that blocked the seven.

            It was ten thirty-four and twelve seconds.

            Thirteen seconds.

            Fourteen.

            Fifteen.  The second hand was a little past the three, but Tohma had counted fifteen.

            Tohma picked up a pen off his desk and studied it briefly before setting it down again.  He rested his elbow on the armrest and cradled his cheek in his hand, while reaching into his pocket with the other and pulling out a crumpled piece of paper.  He shoved the paper down on the desk next to the pen and stared at it with his lips pursed, and then leaned forward and smoothed it out as he looked at the name and number scribbled upon it.

            He could have given it to Ryuichi.  It didn't matter that Ryuichi would have lost it within thirty minutes at the most.  He could have given it to him anyway.  It would have been better that way.

            He didn't know why this was bothering him so much.  That officer had just been a stupid fan girl, a clone of all the other fan girls.  Shuichi had overreacted.  So what if she had let him off without a ticket?  She didn't deserve a private phone call from any of them for it.  She should have been honored just to be able to see him personally, to be able to tell her friends that she pulled Seguchi Tohma over for speeding.  None of them could keep up with all their fans; it was impossible.  Shuichi was just too caring for his own good.  He was an amateur, still unused to the profession.  That was all.

            And yet, Tohma still found himself thinking that he just might give Ryuichi the paper.  Perhaps just to get this off his mind.

            Tohma pushed the piece of paper back into his pocket just as the office door flew open and Ryuichi came in, dragging Shuichi behind him.  He pulled Shuichi to the middle of the room and flung him forward, but caught him just before Shuichi took a nosedive into Tohma's desk and held him in a tight hug.  Tohma narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

            "Ryuichi-san," Tohma started, closing his eyes lightly as he began to push himself to his feet, but Ryuichi's strangely deep voice stopped him.

            "Tohma."  There was a short pause in which Ryuichi seemed to be trying to initiate a staring contest with Tohma, though after being unsuccessful, he smirked dangerously.  "Na, what do you think of Shu-chan?"

            Shuichi whimpered as Ryuichi buried his face into his shoulder and moaned softly.  Tohma cleared his throat, keeping up his façade.

            "Ryuichi-san, what are you doing?" Tohma questioned.

            Ryuichi let out short snicker as his right hand slid up Shuichi's neck to caress his cheek.  Shuichi whimpered even louder.

            "Sakuma-san, what are you doing?" Shuichi repeated, his voice tight and strangely high-pitched.

            "I think Shu-chan's pretty," Ryuichi said in a voice barely above a whisper.  He lifted his head of the boy's shoulder and moved his hand down to rest on the collar of Shuichi's shirt.  "Don't you think so, Tohma?"

            Tohma folded his hands on top of his desk and glared at Ryuichi, though the latter seemed unperturbed as he began to work at the top button of Shuichi's shirt.  He undid it quickly and moved on to the next, pulling the collar open to expose as much of Shuichi's chest as possible.

            "Uhn, Sakuma-san," Shuichi whispered, but as Ryuichi's hand slid down to the trim of his shirt and then ran up to grope his stomach, Shuichi felt his body freeze and he was unable to do anything but stand there and whimper.

            "Ryuichi-san," Tohma said with a sigh, "I suggest you stop this."

            Ryuichi smiled at Tohma mockingly before removing his hand from under Shuichi's shirt.  Shuichi's body relaxed when he did this, but only lasted until Ryuichi grabbed his collar and forced open his shirt, sending buttons flying across the room.

            "NAAA!  HE'S GOING TO RAPE ME!!!  HELP!!!  HELP ME!!!" Shuichi cried as loudly as he could.

            "Ryuichi-san, stop right now.  You're making Shindo-san uncomfortable," Tohma said, a note of concern in his voice, though he did not move to get up.  Not only that, but Ryuichi caught a glint in Tohma's eyes that suggested he meant differently than his words dictated.  He chuckled maniacally and pulled Shuichi's shirt from his body entirely.

            Shuichi, meanwhile, had fallen into another one of his frozen trances in which he could not move, though he was blushing madly and staring at Tohma pleadingly.  He had no idea why Ryuichi was doing something like this.  Hadn't Ryuichi said that he was going to see if Tohma liked him back?  Shuichi could not see how this was going to prove anything.  Not to mention he felt exceptionally exposed when bare-chested in front of Tohma.

            "When're you gonna stop me, huh, Tohma?" Ryuichi asked mockingly.  He stepped around behind Shuichi and pushed his hands under the boy's arms and around his stomach, groping the soft skin there.  Tohma watched intently, as if expecting something to happen, though a hint of nervousness was beginning to creep into his eyes.

            Ryuichi leaned into Shuichi and pushed his hands lower until they were resting on the button of Shuichi's pants.  He looked at Tohma challengingly.

            "How much are you gonna let me take off?" Ryuichi said as he yanked the button open.

========

            All heads turned to see as the tall, handsome blonde entered the building, solemnly staring at the ground and walking with a tired grace that almost seemed impossible to belong to a mere human being.  A secretary jumped to her feet and ran up to him as he approached the elevator.  She blushed as she bowed and spoke quickly, "Sir, I'll have to ask you to not smoke in the building."

            She was met with narrow golden eyes that stared at her harshly, looking ready to make a kill, though he did not heed her request.  The secretary cowered away and clutched the notebook in her hands tightly.  She bowed again, though this one was quite a deal deeper than the last.

            "Sir, this building is not open to the public," the secretary said, refusing to leave her bow so that she would not have to meet the golden eyes.  "I'll have to ask you to leave."

            "Tell Tohma it's Yuki Eiri."  With that he turned and stepped into the elevator, his eyes returning to the ground and remaining there even as he pressed the button for his floor.  The entire procession in the lobby stopped and intently watched as the elevator doors closed and all sat in still silence of awe for several minutes afterward until business resumed as usual.

            Yuki marched angrily through the halls, starting to become annoyed by the constant smoke he was inhaling with his angry breaths.  He pulled the cigarette from his mouth and threw it into the base of a potted plant as he walked by, and then proceeded to search his pocket for another all the while not breaking his stride once.  This was not a good day.  He had known it would not be a good day since he had awoken early that morning to find his boyfriend in the arms of another, even if it did seem like a friendly, fully-clothed sleep hug.  Yuki Eiri was not the forgiving type.

            Not only that, but since he was sixteen he vowed to return the controlling, I-want-to-make-your-life-hell attitude to Tohma, and he still had yet to.  This was not his day, and he had to take his frustrations out on someone.  Tohma just seemed to be the perfect target.

            Yuki marched past Tohma's secretary and grabbed the door handle of Tohma's office.  He heard the secretary shout, "Sir, you can't go in there," in a voice strangely like the first secretary he had dealt with, though he promptly ignored her and swung the door open forcefully.

            "I need to talk to—" Yuki started, though he stopped himself with his eyes wide as he took in the scene before him.  Shuichi was standing in the middle of the office, half-naked and staring at him guiltily, with another boy's arms around him, whom with a few seconds of thought Yuki recognized as the vocalist Sakuma Ryuichi.  Tohma was sitting at his desk, his back straight and his eyes wide, looking the guiltiest of the three, as though he had initiated this for his own amusement.

            "Eiri-san, what—" Tohma began, though he was cut off when Yuki glared at him with the most menacing look he could manage.  Tohma leaned backwards, his lips drawn into a straight line, and broke eye contact to begin to stare attentively at his desk.  Yuki snarled and turned his glare to Shuichi, whom had now separated from the other vocalist but was still standing close by.

            Shuichi watched Yuki fearfully as the latter approached with his teeth clenched angrily.  He stopped only inches away from Shuichi and pushed his hand into the left front pocket of the singer's pants.  The left front pocket, he remembered, was where Shuichi always kept his key.

            Sure enough, there it was.  Yuki closed it in his fist and pulled it out, then held it up in front of Shuichi, whom had yet to make a noise.  Shuichi looked at the key confusedly, and then reached up to take it, but Yuki quickly caught his wrist with his free hand.

            "You're out," Yuki said, stepping away and shoving the key into the pocket of his own black dress pants.  He turned and pointed at Tohma.  "As are you."

            Tohma opened his mouth to speak, but Yuki quickly stormed away, making his pure anger evident in his heavy feet.  He pulled the door shut with a deafening slam, leaving the three to stand in an awkward silence.

            Shuichi turned, his face expressionless, and knelt down to begin gathering his clothes.  He pulled his shirt back on, though being unable to close it because of the missing buttons, he wore it like a vest.  He then shuffled to the door and gripped the handle, pausing as if he were debating something in his head.  He then turned around and stared contemptuously at the two remaining with tears in his eyes.

            "I hate both of you," he hissed, and then swung open the door and ran out of sight.

TBC

========

Notes:  I posted this a total of, what is it, about twelve hours after the last chapter, so if you're confused about the police girl, read that chapter…  You might have skipped it accidentally…

Oh, yes, and sorry…  This chapter is kinda short, but I wrote it in one night and I thought that was a really good ending, so…

I now gots definite plans for Ryu-chan, yay, 'cause Ryu-chan deserves to get a part in all my fics…  Still, I dunno how I'm gonna end this fic…if I ever do…  Maybe I should just keep writing it forever and ever and ever until it has fifty billion chapters and the good people at FF.Net say, "Take it down because you're wasting bandwidth," and I say, "Sorrys," and sadly take it down…

Sorry, was I babbling?  It's rather hard to type with one hand, but my keyboard is always in my lap because my desk is too high and it hurts my wrists, but I also have a tendency to sit in weird, awkward positions, so occasionally I'm holding myself up with one hand and typing with the other and it's not a very easy thing to do…

Until next time.

Cassi


	6. Bad Music

BTW: This is the third chapter I've posted this weekend, so don't get confused. Chapter 6 

            "Yukiiiiii!!!" Shuichi cried, springing from the sidewalk and latching onto the novelist's arm just in time to stop him from entering his car.  Yuki grunted and attempted to yank his arm away, though Shuichi seemed to be holding it in something that resembled a death grip.

            Yuki glared down at the pink haired singer as he placed a cigarette between his lips, even though he realized he had no lighter, just for the whole cold coolness factor.  Shuichi had cheeks already streaked with tears, and he placed a whining face deep into Yuki's sleeve.  Yuki continued to stare at him remorselessly.

            "It's not my fault, I swear!" Shuichi cried with a pleading tone in his voice.  "That wasn't what it looked like."

            "You mean you weren't getting undressed in front of Tohma with the most popular rock star of Japan latched onto you like a lover?" Yuki asked, clenching his teeth and nearly crushing his cigarette with his lips.

            Shuichi squeaked.  "Well, I mean…"

            "Hn," Yuki grunted as he yanked his arm free of Shuichi's and pulled open his door.  Shuichi yelled loudly and leaped into the car before Yuki had a chance to move.  Yuki stood in a daze for a few seconds, trying to figure out exactly what had happened, though when he leaned over and peered into the car, he found Shuichi angrily buckling himself into the passenger's seat.  With an irritated sigh, Yuki slammed the door shut, and then proceeded to the other side, pulling the door open and reaching in for Shuichi.  He had a rather difficult time undoing Shuichi's seatbelt with the latter screaming and slapping his hands away, but eventually it clicked open, and he forcefully dragged the singer out onto the sidewalk.

            "Yuki, please, let me explain!" Shuichi whined as he pushed himself into a sitting position on the concrete.  Yuki debating between listening and driving away coldly, the latter of which sounding much more pleasant, though he cocked his head to the side and lifted an eyebrow.

            "What?"

            Shuichi bit his lip and stared at the ground as tears began to well in his eyes again.  He wasn't quite sure how to explain without setting off Yuki's short fuse; after all, even though he was innocent when concerning Ryuichi, Shuichi couldn't deny that there was something with Tohma, even if it was one-sided.  But without mentioning that, Shuichi couldn't figure out how to explain how he had gotten in that situation in the first place.  He couldn't just blame it on Ryuichi's weird antics, even if that was actually what it had been, but that would only get Ryuichi and possibly Tohma in trouble.

            Shuichi looked up at Yuki apologetically, hoping that that would be enough.  Of course, with Yuki it was never enough.  Yuki let out a short, snide laugh before stepping towards his car again, but Shuichi shot to his feet and grabbed onto Yuki's arm once more.

            "Please, Yuki, I'm not cheating on you, I swear!  I swear!  Please believe me," Shuichi cried.

            "Shut up!" Yuki snapped, glaring down at Shuichi with his death glare, which caused Shuichi to quiet immediately.  "Go out and screw Tohma for all I care!"  Yuki swung his arm out to the side, sending Shuichi skidding across the sidewalk.  "You seemed happy enough to sleep with him last night."

            Shuichi sat up quickly.  "You…saw that?"

            His only response was the slamming of a car door, along with the swiftly accelerating engine noises as the black car sped off.  Shuichi watched as it skidded around the corner and out of sight, and then choked on a sob and grabbed his elbow, which was now bleeding from sliding across the concrete.  He pulled his knees into his chest and sobbed as quietly as he could, ignoring the stares the occasional passersby would give him.  It wasn't until the blurry form of someone came and knelt down beside his that he finally looked up.  Blue eyes stared at him concernedly, looking about ready to burst into tears themselves.

            "Shuichi, I'm so sorry," Ryuichi whispered, bowing his head low.  "I didn't mean for that to happen."

            Shuichi turned his head away and wiped another tear away.  "Why did you do that?"

            "To find out if Tohma liked you back, remember?  And good news!  He likes you a lot!" Ryuichi said proudly, flashing the V sign at Shuichi.  "Maybe even more than Yuki-san, but I dunno, 'cause I never put Yuki-san through that test."

            "Test?" Shuichi asked.  He wiped away the last of the tears and stared at Ryuichi quizzically.

            "Uh-huh.  With Tohma it's easy to tell, because he could have stopped me at any time he wanted, but depending on how long he waits to stop me depends on how much he likes the person I'm undressing.  Who knows how long he would have waited if Yuki-san hadn't walked in!"  Ryuichi grinned mischievously, but when Shuichi didn't join in, his smile faded.  He leaned backwards and let his head lower again.  "Shuichi, do you really hate me?"

            Shuichi sighed and let his eyes wander off to the side, where he noticed a pair of shiny black boots under long black dress pants stood.  His eyes shot up hopefully, knowing that those pants belonged to Yuki—maybe Yuki had decided to take him back after all—but he found himself completely disappointed when he focused on the small face of Tohma instead.  He turned back to Ryuichi, letting his frown grow even larger.

            "This is all your fault, Ryuichi," Shuichi said, and then stood up and ran past Tohma into the building.

            Ryuichi rocked backwards onto his heels and hugged himself tightly, wondering briefly where Kumagorou had run off to in such an important time.  He felt Tohma pull him up to his feet and lead him back inside the cool building.  He let himself be led all the way to the elevator before he finally spoke.

            "Shuichi hates me and it's all my fault," Ryuichi stated.

            "I'm sure Shindo-san doesn't hate you," Tohma assured.  "He's just very upset right now."

            "He hates me and it's all my fault," Ryuichi proclaimed.  His mouth formed into a determined frown.  "I always mess everything up.  I gotta fix it."

            Tohma put his arm around Ryuichi's shoulders and smiled weakly at him.  "I really don't think that's a good idea, Ryuichi-san."

            "It's my fault everything's bad.  I gotta make it better," Ryuichi said with a slight nod.

            "Ryuichi-san, sometimes it's better just to let things happen on their own.  You could make things worse for Shindo-san," Tohma persisted.

            "Nope.  I'll talk to Yuki-san.  I'll tell him it's my fault.  Yuki-san will understand.  Yep."

            "Ryuichi-san, don't you think that Shindo-san may have already tried to explain to Eiri-san?"

            "Maybe Yuki-san just didn't believe Shuichi," Ryuichi said, nodding to himself.  "Maybe if I tell him too, he'll understand."

            "Ryuichi-san, that's really not a good—" Tohma was cut off by the ding of the elevator, and a very set Ryuichi running out of the doors enthusiastically with another mischievous smile on his lips.  Tohma sighed and crossed his arms, shaking his head softly.  If Ryuichi wanted to get skinned alive by Yuki, that was his own choice.  It had nothing to do with Tohma.  Besides, he doubted Ryuichi could do anything to mend the relationship between Yuki and Shuichi; he could only make it worse, and that was just fine for Tohma.  It only made things easier.

            But for now, he had to find Shuichi.

========

            Yuki snuffed out the fourth cigarette of that hour and resumed his staring at the door.  He was stretched across the couch with the television on, though the program did not seem interesting at all.  The front door was the only thing that concerned him.  He was waiting for it to swing open and a lovely pink haired singer to come running in, crying for him to take him back, and promising that he would never look at Tohma again.

            Shuichi always came back.  Yuki had gotten used to that by now.  He had left the door unlocked, hoping that he could pretend it to be a mistake later, just for the little pink brat.  He didn't have to television on just to pretend he wasn't waiting, either; he had gotten used to the constant background noise of Shuichi, and now the silence seemed even worse.  He just needed the noise until Shuichi got back.

            Still, it sure was taking the brat a long time, Yuki decided as he lit another cigarette.  He had expected the brat to come in no more than an hour after he himself had arrived, and already it had been seven.  He hadn't really worried before; after all, perhaps Seguchi had forced him to continue working, but now it was already and hour past closing time and he still had yet to show up.

            Not that Yuki missed him.  That wasn't it.  He was just used to him.  And if the brat ever did come back, Yuki didn't want to be out of being used to him.  If that happened, he wouldn't be able to stand the noise anymore.  No, Yuki was just used to him.  He didn't miss him.

            Yuki's eyes trailed over to the television screen where the host of the current game show was shouting excitedly about the last question.  This was the same game show that Shuichi and the rest of his band had been on a while ago, Yuki realized.  He glanced at his watch.  Almost an hour and a half since Shuichi should have arrived home from work.

            Yuki was about to stand up to grab a beer out of the refrigerator when he heard the door creak open, and instead he relaxed on the couch, pretending to not have heard as he continued to stare at the screen, though he did not see or hear the game show at all.  He was listening intently for Shuichi's voice to apologize to him and explain what happened and ask to be allowed to live here again.

            "Yuki-san…"

            Yuki's eyes shot towards the door when he realized that that voice did not belong to his Shuichi.  He focused upon the face of a person whom looked somewhat similar, but still was not Shuichi.  Yuki frowned when he realized who this person was—the very person who had been holding Shuichi in his arms when Yuki had walked into Tohma's office.

            "What do you want?" Yuki snapped, allowing his frustration at the disappointment of no Shuichi flood his voice.

            "Mm, about Shuichi…about what happened today, when you…well, I thought you should know that it wasn't Shuichi's fault, that it was actually my fault, and I'm the one who put Shuichi in that situation…"

            Yuki glared at him as he pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and held it between his two fingers.  "And why are you telling me this?"

            "You shouldn't blame Shu-chan!" Ryuichi cried.  "It was my fault, so you should let him live with you again!"

            "And why would you want me to do that?" Yuki asked, lifting a cynical eyebrow.

            "Because Shu-chan is unhappy when he's not with you," Ryuichi replied.  He looked at the ground and began drawing circles on the hardwood floor with his foot.

            "And?"

            "You're so tactless!" Ryuichi yelled.  He pouted and placed his hands behind his back.

            "Hmm," Yuki sighed.  He watched, waiting for Ryuichi to turn and walk away, though it never happened; Ryuichi continued to stand in place, refusing to move.  "So is there another reason?"

            Ryuichi looked up confusedly.  He stared at Yuki for a few moments, in which Yuki noticed the fear embedded in his eyes.  Yuki smiled cruelly.

            "Perhaps it has something to do with Shuichi's recent friendliness with Seguchi?" Yuki suggested.  He watched Ryuichi's eyes widen.

            "N-no…"

            "So which side of the relationship bothers you?  Is it that Seguchi took Shuichi away…or Shuichi took Seguchi away?"

            "It's not either!  I'm just worried about Shu-chan!"

            Yuki smirked.  "Right," he said.  "I don't care about that idiot, nor do I care about you, so leave now before I report you to the police for trespassing."

            "Shuichi deserves a second chance," Ryuichi proclaimed, planting his feet into the ground.

            "I told you I don't care about the idiot."

            "Why not?"

            Yuki laughed snidely and pushed himself off the couch to his feet.  "He's an annoying brat with no talent.  He's just like you.  Why would I care about him?"

            Ryuichi ran up to him and tilted his head up to glare into his eyes.  "You are so mean!"

            "That's nice," Yuki muttered as he pushed past Ryuichi and headed towards the kitchen.  "You may have a little more talent than Shuichi, but that's not saying much."

            "How can you say that?"

            "It's true."

            "But—"

            "So your lyrics might make a little more sense.  And maybe your keyboardist is a little better.  And maybe your voice is not quite as annoying.  You're still just an icon to be worshipped by the general public, whose overall intelligence is equivalent to that of a rock.  Any idiot can like your music."

            "And what about you?" Ryuichi yelled walking briskly to stay in stride with him.  "Your books aren't very good."

            "Have you ever even read any of my books?" Yuki asked.  He looked down and took in Ryuichi's defeated gaze with a smile.  "That's what I thought.  It just proves I'm right.  You probably wouldn't even be able to understand my book enough to summarize it, if you were even able to make it through the entire novel."

            Ryuichi stopped and frowned.  Yuki watched him until he turned and ran back into the living room.  There were a few moments of silence, interrupted only by the muffled notes of the television, until the door slammed shut.  Yuki sighed to himself and grabbed a beer from the fridge and then returned to his spot on the couch to continue watching the mindless game show and waiting for Shuichi.  He stared at it for several minutes until his eyes wandered up to the bookcase on the side of the television where, he noticed, the copy of the first edition of _Cool_ was missing.  Yuki smiled to himself.  

Perhaps Sakuma Ryuichi was worth dealing with.  After all, it could be somewhat amusing…

TBC

========

Notes:  Whoo!  I ist writing a lot.  This is what happens when I don't get to go over to my friend's house because of my essays, and yet neglect my essays a lot.  Actually, there was quite a bit of…angst…*shiver* in this chapter…  *Shiver, shiver*  I hate that word.  Angst.  Come on, people, that's the word I use to make fun of those stupid Goths who complain about sunshine…  It's not angst, it's drama.  Drama.

Yes, that's it.  Anyway, this story is starting to get a little more serious, but I dunno if it's gonna revert back to humor later on.  If it doesn't, maybe I'll take the 'Humor' out of the genre…  I dunno, maybe not.

Until next time.

Cassi


	7. Pillow Fight

Chapter 7 

            Tohma sincerely hoped that Shuichi dyed his hair.  Pink hair was naturally impossible, in theory, at least.  But, then again, in theory a naturally blond Japanese was impossible, due to millenniums of filtration on the genetic level, unless the blood of another race was there to sully it.  Yuki Eiri was a naturally blond Japanese, and Tohma was certain that there was none other than pure Japanese blood in the entire Uesugi line that Eiri could have inherited.

            Maybe Eiri was just a natural phenomenon.  Maybe people really couldn't have naturally pink hair.  Maybe Shuichi dyed his hair.  Hopefully.  But, then again, Tohma thought that having naturally violet eyes was impossible too, in theory.  Shuichi had violet eyes.  Maybe Shuichi's pink hair was natural, and maybe Shuichi's violet eyes were natural.

            Maybe Shuichi wore contacts.  Maybe Shuichi dyed his hair.

            Hopefully.

            But then, the more Tohma looked, the more he noticed how natural it looked.  Even professionally done, after a few dye jobs in succession, no one's hair would be able to withstand and retain its natural shine and softness.  And yet, Shuichi's seemed to have done just that.  Not to mention that even up close, Tohma could not find the circular line of the edge of the contact around the outer rim of Shuichi's iris.  It was quite disconcerting.

            He had looked into Shuichi's eyes several times that evening, searching for that line, but of course wearing an expression that would hide his true intentions of finding such a line.  Whenever Shuichi would look at him, Tohma would smile at him kindly, with his eyes open, of course, but Shuichi always looked away with a frown before Tohma could confirm the absence of contacts.

            "There's no point in blaming me," Tohma said, leaning back onto the hotel mattress and crossing his arms behind his head.  "I had nothing to do with that."

            Shuichi continued to pout in response.

            "In fact, you really shouldn't blame me, seeing as though I'm the one paying for this room," Tohma added.  He smiled as he looked at the ceiling of the wonderfully lavished room of such a grand hotel—not that the ceiling was well-decorated, being just a plain white since generally one does not look up at the ceiling and therefore there is no point in decorating it, but just knowing how much money he had spent on this room was enough to be able to tell how wonderful it was.  Something to brag about, at least.

            "You could have stopped him," Shuichi grumbled into his knees, which were pulled tightly into his chest.  "He said so."

            Tohma laughed cynically.  "I'm sure you could have stopped him as well, Shindo-san.  If I recall, you really didn't do much to make him aware of your discomfort."

            "Normally people don't do that."

            "Normally people don't do anything that Ryuichi-san does."

            Shuichi spun around and glared at Tohma, the latter of which taking his chance to once again smile as he searched for the hint of contact lenses.  Once again, he was able to confirm nothing before Shuichi closed his eyes and buried his face into his knees again.  "Why are you being so mean?" he mumbled.

            "I'm not being mean," Tohma replied casually, looking back at the ceiling.  "You're just looking for someone to tack your problems onto."

            "See?  You're being mean!" Shuichi cried.  "Besides, Ryuichi was acting like he's played that game with you a lot.  You knew how to stop him."

            Tohma sighed inaudibly and rolled his eyes.  "And you could have stopped him as well, and yet you just stood there," he retorted, accenting each syllable to demonstrate his irritation.

            "Normally people don't do that."

            "Shindo-san, you're talking in circles," Tohma said.  He rolled over to his side and rested his head on his elbow as he stared at the pink hair that still looked quite natural.

            Shuichi moaned.  "Yuki hates me…"

            I really hope so, Tohma thought as a cruel smirk touched his lips, though he forced it away just as Shuichi lifted his head from behind his knees.  His face was now red, presumably from lack of oxygen as encountered when in a fetal position, and his eyes were gathering tears rapidly.  Tohma wondered if contacts would fall out if one cried enough, though he wasn't entirely certain that was a good method.  Of course, he knew quite a bit about contacts, being a user himself because he personally thought glasses were just so unstylish, though he couldn't even remember the last time he had cried, so he couldn't be sure.

            Shuichi was staring at him tearfully.  Tohma only realized this a few moments later, and then began to think of a course of action to take to get Shuichi to stop staring at him.  His first realization was that Shuichi was expecting some sort of answer from him, which led Tohma to begin trying to remember what Shuichi had last said.  Apparently he took too long, seeing as though Shuichi had burst into tears before he could remember.

            "YOU'RE SO MEAN!!!" Shuichi cried in a screechy voice so annoying that Tohma predicted this would show up on his bill the next morning.  Tohma slowly pushed himself into a sitting position and stared at Shuichi with a sinister smile.

            "Let me guess for a moment, Shindo-san.  Today, Ryuichi took you to my office because you told him that you had a crush on me, and he told you that he'd be able to tell you if I liked you back."  He paused, sadistically drinking the sight of Shuichi's horrified expression, using all his self-control to stop himself from laughing.  "Listen, whatever Ryuichi told you, I do not like you back."

            Shuichi's horrified expression worsened; his face paled, and he looked on the brink of fainting, though his locked elbows refused to let him fall.  Therefore, he stayed awake and choked out a few more words.  "Then, that was all for nothing.  I lost Yuki…for nothing?"

            Tohma shrugged.  "Well, at least you know for certain that I don't like you."

            He dropped down onto his back again and closed his eyes, smiling faintly, though he soon jolted up again when something smacked him right on the face, seeming to crush his nose straight down against his skull.  On instinct, he reached up to his nose to make sure it wasn't bleeding, and upon confirming that it was not, he proceeded to investigate his surroundings to discover the culprit that had caused him such pain.  It only took a few seconds for him to notice the pillow lying halfway on the floor, with the other half leaning against the side of his bed, looking suspiciously like it had fallen there.  Tohma then glanced at Shuichi, whom was glaring at him as menacingly as possible with Shuichi.

            Tohma glared back for a few seconds before snatching up the pillow and hurling it at Shuichi with all his might.  Of course, his aim was a spot on target, and Shuichi intercepted it with a high-pitched yelp.  Because his reaction time was so slow, however, Shuichi was unable to throw his arms up in time to protect his face, and instead threw his entire body backwards to minimize the shock, though being the idiot he was, he had forgotten to consider that he was not safely on the ground and instead went flying off the bed to end up sprawled across the floor with the pillow gently resting on his right shoulder.  Tohma was soon on top of him, straddling his waist and pinning his shoulders to the floor with his hands, very much similar to the way Ryuichi had pinned him earlier that day.  Realizing that he was now trapped, Shuichi stared up at Tohma in defeat.

            After a few minutes of no response from Tohma, however, Shuichi's defeated stare fell into a worried frown.  He did not like the way Tohma was looking at him.  It seemed as though Tohma knew very well what kind of a position they were in.  Shuichi found himself whimpering as Tohma began to lean closer and closer until their lips were merely a few centimeters apart.  He probably would have continued his descent, too, had not Shuichi screamed out again.

            "Naa!!!  You just said—you just said—you just said—!!!"  He couldn't think of how to finish that sentence, so he left it off with that.  Of course, to his dismay, Tohma's sadistic smile only widened.

            "Forget it," Tohma said as he roughly grabbed Shuichi's collar and forced him onto the bed.  Once again, Shuichi felt the few buttons that remained on his shirt being ripped off, and he found himself thinking of a certain comment Yuki had given him earlier that day.

            _"Go out and screw Tohma for all I care!"_

            Shuichi had not thought of it as a suggestion before.

========

            Yuki took a sip from his coffee mug as he lazily set the newspaper down on the couch before swinging around quickly when he heard his name shrieked at him from behind.  Normally, he would have just ignored any sort of mention of his name, be it a whisper, a call, a mock, or a shriek, though he was quite unaccustomed to his name being shrieked inside his apartment.  He turned and focused on an object flying towards his head just in time, but of course so as not to lose his cool demeanor, not to mention to avoid spilling his coffee, he forced himself to casually sidestep rather than jump out of the way as his instincts dictated.  Not that it mattered—he doubted the object would have hit him even if he had just remained stationary, judging by the way the object collided with the lamp on the coffee table that was quite a distance to his left.

            Stepping up to the said coffee table and carefully lifting the lamp, he found himself relieved that it was not broken, not because it was expensive or of any sentimental value, but if it had broken he would have had to put forth the energy to go to the store to buy a new one—a task which he would not take pleasantly.  Upon further inspection of the area, Yuki was finally able to confirm what the flying object had been; his copy of his book _Cool_, which in turn gathered enough of his curiosity to allow him to exert the energy to turn and look towards the direction in which the said book had come from.  To no surprise, there stood Sakuma Ryuichi, looking as much like a seven-year-old as ever, though Yuki noted there were dark bags under his eyes, not to mention his hair was ruffled and he was wearing the same clothes as yesterday, except the backpack clinging to his shoulders was a new addition to his attire.

            "It's a stupid book!" Ryuichi stated emphatically.

            Yuki lifted an eyebrow as he took a sip from his coffee mug.  After he finished, he lowered the mug and took a breath, trying to prolong his response in an attempt to infuriate Ryuichi.  "And, tell me, did you spend all night trying to read it?"

            Ryuichi pulled his lips into a small frown and nodded.

            "And did you finish it?" Yuki asked.  He took another sip from his coffee to keep himself from smiling when he noticed the distant look Ryuichi's eyes took on for a brief second.  "Didn't think so."

            "I didn't finish it 'cause it was so stupid," Ryuichi said.  He swung his backpack off his shoulders with a spastic jerk of his body, and it hit the ground with a dull thud.  Yuki once again raised his eyebrow as Ryuichi pulled open the zipper, revealing a multitude of books, including a dictionary, a kanji dictionary, a Japanese-English dictionary, a Japanese-Chinese dictionary, and a Japanese-French dictionary, all of which Yuki realized were the exact same editions that he had in his collection.  Curiously, he eyed the bottom shelf of his bookcase, and sure enough, all his dictionaries were gone.

            "When exactly did you take all this?" Yuki asked absently, gazing at the stack of books in awe.

            Ryuichi promptly ignored him as he continued.  "You're a bad writer.  Books are supposed to be fun to read.  They're not supposed to be hard.  Like TV.  I couldn't understand half of this book.  Besides, it wasn't about anything good, either, like ponies or bunnies or puppies.  It was just about these two people.  It wasn't anything special.  I could write about two people too.  And there were too many big words.  And too much kanji.  It took too much thought to read."

            "You know," Yuki interjected lazily in the short break of Ryuichi's explanation, "most people think that books are better when one has to think to read it."

            "Who thinks that?" Ryuichi asked rhetorically.  He rolled his eyes.  "Only stupid people like you."

            Yuki took a sip from his mug, musing silently.  That, he believed, was the first time he had been called stupid since he had started his writing career.  Not only that, but it was also the first time his book had been criticized to his face; most people either cried about how great he was or just didn't have enough guts to tell him what they really thought.  He couldn't imagine that _everyone_ he stumbled across on the streets liked his books, and as for critics…well, critics were pathetic ignoramuses that flamed everything they read because only the negative critics were the ones that were read, and only the ones that were read were the ones that got paid.

            As for Ryuichi's critique, at least it was coming from the heart, no matter how unintelligent it was.  Yuki sat down on the couch, setting his coffee mug down on the table, and opened his mouth to say something when he realized that Ryuichi had resumed talking.  Yuki hadn't even realized that he had tuned him out in the first place.

            "…And the things that those people did together, it was gross.  First of all, who really does those things?  It's gross.  And who likes to read that stuff?  It's really, really, really gross.  And even if there was some weird reason for them to do something like that, did you really have to go into sooooooo much detail?  I mean, I really didn't need to know _that_ much!"  He made a sour face.  "It was really, really, really, really—"

            "If you want to use my shower," Yuki interrupted, looking over towards the bookcase irritably, "you can."

            Ryuichi looked reluctant, though when his hand ran through his greasy hair, a hint of resolve entered his eyes, and he scampered off down the back hallway, seeming to magically know where the shower was located.  Yuki vaguely wondered how the singer knew his way around so well, but he soon realized it must have been because of Shuichi.  After what he had walked in on in Tohma's office the previous day had made him doubtful of Shuichi's 'undying loyalty' to him, and seeing as though Ryuichi had been a part of that whole incident, Yuki didn't see any fault in assuming that Ryuichi must have come to his apartment a lot when he was not in.

            Speaking of which, Yuki found himself wondering just how Ryuichi had gotten into his apartment this time.  He was pretty sure that he had locked the door that morning after he had gotten his newspaper, meaning that Ryuichi would have to have had a key, though he couldn't have gotten it from Shuichi seeing as though Yuki had reclaimed that one.

            Yuki raised thoughtful eyes up the small rack of hooks nailed up next to the front door where he had kept a spare key for Shuichi before since Shuichi had always managed to lose his.  Yuki smiled as he let out an amused sigh upon seeing the hook empty.

            Yet another thing Ryuichi had taken on his way out the previous night.  For all his so-called stupidity, Yuki couldn't help but admit that the man was thorough.  Yuki stood up and was about to enter the back hallway when he heard the water of the shower start, and instead he sat down on the couch and picked up the newspaper, listening closely for the water to stop.  He would have to be sure to get that key back before Ryuichi left.

            Just so he wouldn't be able to come back.

TBC

========

Notes:  Nope.  None.  No notes, sorry.

Well, maybe a few.  First of all, suggestions are still welcome on anything really, though I'm not guaranteeing that I'll take all of them.  That would be quite impossible in some cases, especially if I get a lot.

Nya, give me more relationship suggestions especially!  I still dunno whose gonna end up with who, and suggestions or requests might help.  Not to mention that I love to see which pairings are the most popular…

So, am I getting back to the humor, as originally intended?  Or did that extra hour of sleep last night do nothing for me?  

So Tohma and Shuichi finally got together…literally…  No lemons for you.  Don't you know that the acidic properties of lemon juice cause your tooth enamel to deteriorate?  My Grammy made me stop eating raw lemons when I was about ten because she was worried about my teeth…  Sorry, I got a lemon request…a long time ago…but I'm gonna leave the lemon out because I think it would take away from this story more than it would add.  Not only that, but I'm also not that great at writing lemons, especially in a 'humor' story.  Besides, I like PG-13 stories better than R because it's on the first page, and if you're anything like me, you're much too lazy to go to the Rating: All page, so…yeah…  And I'd hate to destroy the enamel on you peoples' teeth.

Quite a few notes for no notes, ne?

Until next time.

Cassi


	8. Street Bench

Chapter 8 

Ryuichi walked into NG studios in the normal fashion, adorned in a big T-shirt and bright red pants, and of course his Kumagorou was being clutched in his arms as he nuzzled it with his cheek.  Nothing seemed particularly different about him, right down to the lost, confused look he always seemed to wear wherever he went.  He had a feeling that he had forgotten something, though this was nothing out of the ordinary, seeing as though he forgot everything every day.  Luckily, Tohma knew about his forgetful nature, and therefore had nailed up a bulletin board to the wall right next to the elevators where he could post things that Ryuichi needed to remember.

            However, today, like most days, Ryuichi forgot to look at the bulletin board to see what he forgot, thus ended up wandering aimlessly around the halls in one of the upper levels, bored out of his mind.  He wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to be doing, but being easily distracted, he had no time trying to remember before his attention was diverted.  Strangely enough, Ryuichi found his mind wandering to none other than Yuki Eiri.  Or rather, what Yuki had done.  It was the strangest thing, Ryuichi decided.  For some reason, after Ryuichi had gotten out of the shower, Yuki made him give his key back.  Ryuichi didn't know why Yuki wanted _that_ key, since he had another one, actually two considering that he had taken Shuichi's.

            Maybe that key was special to Yuki.  That was probably it.  Ryuichi didn't mind giving Yuki that key.  He had no particular attachment to it.  It wasn't that important.  Ryuichi couldn't figure out why one key would be so special to anybody when it had two duplicates that were exactly like it.  Yuki was a strange person.  But that's okay, because Ryuichi was sure to just take one of the duplicates that Yuki wasn't quite so attached to.

            "Na, Kumagorou…" Ryuichi said, placing Kumagorou on the ground in front of him and staring into those beady black eyes.  "Sorry I couldn't take you to see Yuki-san, but then I wasn't sure what Yuki-san would do so in case he took me hostage I thought that if I didn't come back you could go get some help."  Ryuichi nodded his head assertively to accent his words.

            Kumagorou stared at him.  The lights in the hallway were bright, making little white pinpricks of light that shone on the upper right hand corner of its black eyes.

            "Uhn?  Don't you forgive me, Kumagorou?" Ryuichi asked.

            Kumagorou continued to stare at him.

            "Kumagorou?" Ryuichi said.  He pouted at his little friend and crossed his arms in irritation.  That pose only lasted a few seconds, though, because when Kumagorou still didn't respond, Ryuichi grabbed its ear and flung it across the hallway where it smacked against the wall and made an echoing _click_ when one of the eyes collided with the floor.  

Ryuichi stared at the crumpled heap of pink angrily for a few seconds before his eyes began to gather tears.  He knelt down and picked up the stuffed rabbit, dusting it off and noticing a dark spot on its head that he had never seen before.  He wondered if it was the beginning of a bruise.

            "Kumagorou!  I'm so sorry!" Ryuichi cried, hugging the rabbit tightly as the tears began to flow down his cheeks at an alarming rate.  "I didn't mean it, I swear!  I'll get a doctor!"  He stood up and darted down the hallway, cradling Kumagorou tenderly.  He didn't stop once, not even to catch his breath from running up two flights of stairs because waiting for the elevator would take too long, just in case Kumagorou was on the brink of death and every second counted.  He reached his destination quickly and swung open the door.  Although out of breath, the years of singing had done wonders to his lungs; after the long run, he was still able to take a deep breath and let out a resonating, "TOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHMMMMMMMAAAAAAAA!!!"

            Upon spotting his long-time friend, however, his eyes widened as all worry vanished from his mind, and the pink rabbit fell to the ground, forgotten.

            It wasn't really as though they were doing anything wrong, really.  Shuichi had squirmed back into his own chair, and although his hair was rumpled and his shirt was hanging off his shoulder, he was acting pretty normal with only a trace of sheepishness hidden in his movements.  Tohma was smiling, as ever, and acting as though he had not just been caught kissing Shuichi.

            "What is it, Ryuichi-san?" Tohma said calmly, still smiling.

            Ryuichi frowned as he pulled back his foot and let it fall forward, sending Kumagorou bouncing further into the office.  Shuichi stood up awkwardly and picked up the stuffed rabbit with shaking fingers.

            "Sakuma-san," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.  He stepped towards Ryuichi and held up the rabbit, though he was only met with a distant gaze from a pair of wide blue eyes.  The gaze only lasted a few seconds, however, before it fell into a worried frown as Ryuichi snatched Kumagorou back into his own arms and hugged it gingerly.

            "Poor Kumagorou!" Ryuichi sang, shifting his weight from one foot to another.  "I'm being so mean today.  I'm sorry."

            He paused and stared at Shuichi for a moment before his gaze slid to Tohma, who was watching him curiously with his arms folded over his chest.  Ryuichi grinned, even though his mouth was halfway hidden by Kumagorou's head, and lifted the rabbit's small arm in a wave.

            "You guys are gross," Ryuichi said as he stepped backwards through the doorway and grasped the handle.  "I thought people only did that stuff in books."  With that, he pulled the door shut and, placing Kumagorou securely on his head, slowly sauntered away, still unsure of what he was supposed to be doing.  Perhaps he should have asked Tohma, but then he forgot, and he decided he shouldn't go back now because the two would probably be going at it again.  With a dissatisfied sigh, Ryuichi made his way towards the front doors.  Maybe he should just go home.  That sounded like fun.

Or, at least more fun than having to see Tohma and Shuichi together.

========

            After hours of picking out every single spot of pink in the crowd with the vain hope that it might possibly be Shuichi, Yuki found himself forgetting what the color pink looked like altogether, and instead began focusing on all different shades of red, and, beyond that, once he even noted how much a small navy blue handbag an old woman was carrying reminded him of the color of Shuichi's hair.

            Yuki was beginning to realize that he was obsessed.  He had fully understood what he had been doing when he had rejected Shuichi in such utterly cruel ways beforehand again and again.  He knew what possible effects it would have on the cheerful singer's psyche; in fact, he had been depending on those effects to cause Shuichi to hate him so that maybe the brat would leave him alone and he could have a few moments of some peace and quiet so that he could work on his novels.

            Now, however, the so-called peace and quiet was suffocating him.  He was dependant on Shuichi.  He had taken for granted that the brat always came back again and again, no matter how many times he was insulted and kicked out.  It had made Yuki believe that he really did love him, though now it seemed that Shuichi only came back because he had no one else to go to.

            Unconditional love.  As long as there was no one else.

            But wasn't that a condition?

            Yuki sighed and shifted uncomfortably in the public bench that he was currently occupying, and had been for the past two hours.  He had retreated onto the streets just to have a touch of hubbub so that he could breath again.  Shuichi's absence was killing him.  He couldn't write, he couldn't sleep, he couldn't eat.  He was going to slowly starve to death and it would all be Shuichi's fault.

            "You should go home," he said aloud to himself, knowing it to be true.  He was baking in the sun; judging by how his life had been going the past few days he would wake up the next morning fried to a crisp and barely able to move in a severe sunburned state.  If he didn't starve to death, perhaps surviving off the stored strawberry pocky that Shuichi had collected for nearly a year once he ran out of all other food, being too lazy to go shopping ever, he would surely die of Shuichi-induced melanoma.  Either way, his imminent doom was swiftly approaching, and it was all Shuichi's fault.  Everything was always Shuichi's fault.

            Yuki pushed himself to his feet as he pulled the last cigarette out of the pack and pushed it into his mouth.  His lungs were burning, seeing as though he had bought this pack just before he had sat down on that bench, though Yuki ignored the horrible sensation and lit the cigarette quickly with the lighter he had bought along with the cigarettes; his old lighter was too bothersome, seeing as though he could not peel off that sticker picture of Shuichi on it, and therefore it found a new home in the trash can.

            "Go home now," he muttered to himself, just quietly enough so that only he would hear to ensure he would not make a fool out of himself by talking to himself in front of complete strangers.  As he walked, he decided to make a vow not to think about the pink-haired brat for the rest of the day; however, just as he thought that, memories of all the wonderful times he'd had with that very brat began flooding his mind.  As he retreated into his own head, he saw only enough to make sure he would not run into anything, though most of his brain began to dwell on the one who, just two days ago, had been the most important person to him.  Who still was the most important person to him.

            A small silver earring, a birthday present, that had come with the words, "I know you said you didn't want a present, but I thought since your ear's pierced anyway, I'd get it for you.  I think it'll look really nice."

            "You say everything looks nice on me," he had replied coolly, throwing the earring onto the table.

            Shuichi had looked so hurt then, it made Yuki's heart clench.  He didn't cry.  He merely looked at the earring sadly, as if Yuki had rejected him instead.  "It's because I love you," he had said softly.

            Yuki pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and dropped it on the ground, silently wishing that he had bought two packs instead of one.  He sighed heavily and fingered the ring in his ear—the truth was, he had only said that to be an annoying bastard, like usual.  It did look good on him.  He had just been so petty.  It was why Shuichi had gone to Tohma, he assumed.  Tohma would never say or do things like that.  Yuki couldn't blame him…

            "What the hell am I thinking?" Yuki hissed, though still quietly so the passersby would not hear.  "Tohma's got no chance against me.  What kind of idiot would choose him?"  He frowned determinedly, just as a dark shadowy figure rushed towards him, and Yuki had to jump to the side to avoid a collision.  Returning to reality, he realized that the figure was actually a man in a business suit, who, although quite rude, was rather normal.  Upon further inspection of his surroundings, Yuki found that he was standing just outside the NG Records building.  Musing silently to himself, he wondered just how he had gotten there; he had to have walked at least to miles from the park bench to arrive there.

            Glancing at his watch, he realized it was about an hour after he had last checked.  Shuichi would still be working.  If Yuki would just go through those double doors…his rehearsal was on the third floor, fourth door to the right…he would be there…singing, as always…  There was nothing to it…just through those doors…

            It required no debate.  It was simple, and he was already there.  He gathered his anger, just for effect so as not to lose his reputation, and pushed through the doors, though he did not make quite as much of an entrance as the last time just to make sure he wouldn't be hassled by the secretaries again.

            However, as soon as he saw a certain someone hovering over the front desk giving instructions to a secretary, he realized that perhaps it did require a bit of debate.  He had forgotten to consider that this person worked here too, and that he might possibly run into him before he did Shuichi.  He suddenly felt like an idiot with nowhere to run; he had already noticed him.

            "Eiri-san?" he asked, straightening his body and looking almost frightened, if possible.

            "Seguchi," Yuki said, starting towards the elevators again.  He was already past Tohma when the latter swung around and caught up to him quickly.

            "What are you doing here?" he questioned, and Yuki could still sense a hint of something that resembled fear in his voice.  He reached the elevator and pressed the up button, though he stood with his hands in his pockets and pretending to be indifferent to Tohma's presence, even though it irritated him immensely.

            "I'm here to pick up the idiot," Yuki replied, deciding it best to tell the truth.  He couldn't think of another excuse, and it was easier this way.  Besides, it didn't matter at all as long as he did it in an exceptionally cool manner, being the cold Yuki who maybe because he had so much free time and nothing better to do he would pick up the brat.

            "He called you?"  That was hurt in his voice this time, Yuki decided.  And that was not a good thing.  Definitely not.

            "No," Yuki replied angrily.  The elevator opened, though Yuki paused before entering.  "He hasn't come back for two days, you know."

            "Of course," Tohma said.  His voice was back to its usual snide tone.  "You did kick him out, remember?"

            "That doesn't mean he can't come back," Yuki replied, catching the elevator door just before it closed.  He stepped inside, and Tohma followed quickly.  "He always did before."

            "Hmm, Eiri-san…" Tohma sighed.  There was a cynical note to his voice, and Yuki felt as though Tohma knew something that he didn't.  "I think we need to talk."  With a smirk, Tohma reached out and touched the button on the elevator, to the floor for his office, and waited for the doors to close before he spoke again.  "I don't believe Shindo-san will be returning."

            Yuki lifted an eyebrow at Tohma, urging him to continue, though he had an ominous foreboding that he didn't want to know.

            "It seems as though Shindo-san is not as loyal as you believed him to be.  In fact, he is rather quick to desert you—"

            "What did you do?" Yuki asked through clenched teeth, though more than anything he found himself nervous and dreading the answer.

            "It wasn't entirely my fault.  Shindo-san was more than willing," Tohma said.  Yuki gripped the railing of the elevator tightly, willing himself not to smash Tohma's face with his fist, not to ruin the mocking smile he always wore.

            "You…" Yuki hissed, glaring at Tohma fiercely, though the latter hardly noticed.  He merely crossed his arms and smirked even more, remaining silent until the elevator dinged and opened.  He tilted his head back to gaze at Yuki mockingly before speaking.

            "I told you that staying with Shindo-san was not a good idea," he said, and then turned and strode out of the elevator.  "I really must be getting back to work though.  I shall see you later, but please do not hassle Shindo-san about this."  He raised his hand in a wave without even turning around before turning a corner and disappearing from sight.

            The doors closed soon after that, though the elevator remained stationary, having not been called on yet.  Yuki sighed, and, running his hand through his golden locks, sunk into a sitting position against the wall.  His hand slid to his ear, and he fingered the earring there gently in indecision before lowering his hand and closing his eyes sadly.

            "What a waste," he whispered as the elevator started again in descent for the next passenger.

TBC

========

Notes:  Goodbye, humor…  I salute your parting.

Well, I guess with all these Sorry-Yuki-I'm-Cheating-On-You fics have got to have some… drama… in them, but there is a logical reason for this, actually.  That being, I am very depressed.  There's a logical reason for that too.  My first major grade of my English class this year, (an essay, yay) and I got a 64% (which in my class is an F).  That makes my grade an 81% in the whole class, which is not enough to stay in honors, so if I don't raise to a 90-something % by the end of the quarter…or semester…or something, I'm not gonna be able to stay in honors.  I'll be very sad then.

And then it goes something like this:

"Oh, what did you get on your essay?" that girl asks.

"64," I reply.  "And you?"

"91.  Can you believe that?  I so could have done better than that," the girl says.  I stare at her.

I really don't like essays.  But something good, I got the first volume of the Gravitation graphic novel in English, and it is very happy yumminess.  Only they all look so different from the series…  Tohma is masculine, how frightening is that?  And I'm reading along… and I say, "Wait, who is that?"  Though upon looking at it further, I realize it's Shuichi.  Seriously, he does not look like Shuichi.  He looks like Ryuichi does in the original doujinshi "Help."  (Which is a great doujinshi if you like explicit sex scenes…and can read kanji, a department in which I am lacking.  It's about Sakuma Ryuichi, his guitarist Hiroshi, Uesugi Tatsuha the romance novelist, and Nettle Grasper!)  Yeah…  Enough notes?  Yeah, I think so.

Until next time.

Cassi


	9. Phone Call

Chapter 9 

            Shuichi never realized how incredibly boring his job was until that day when he didn't want to do it.  He wasn't dissatisfied or anything; rather, he was the complete opposite of that.  It was more like life was so great that it made his wonderful job seem insignificant.

            Never before had he felt so happy, especially when currently separated from Yuki.  The breakup with Yuki didn't bother him at all; in fact, he was glad.  Not that he didn't like Yuki anymore.  It was just that now he felt free, without having to worry about Yuki or Yuki's thoughts or feelings or harsh words or neglect…  It was much nicer how it was now.

            Now that he was free, Shuichi was really beginning to understand just how dysfunctional Yuki was.

            However, despite that Shuichi was at that point in time romantically involved with his president and boss, he still had to do his work, or lack thereof.  It was a lucky thing that he had a nice comfy chair that spun around, or else he would be so bored he wouldn't be able to stand it.  Before he was seeing how fast he could make the chair spin, and how long he could keep it spinning, but then he started to feel dizzy and sick, so he stopped.  Now he was just pushing the chair from side to side and chewing on a pencil, though he couldn't even remember where he had gotten the pencil.  It seemed as though it had magically appeared in his mouth.

            There were a few chords released from a guitar, but then they faded into silence once more.  Shuichi spun the chair around to see Hiro writing on a sheet of paper, presumably the music for the new song.  He leaned back and rang out a few more chords, and then leaned forward to the paper again.

            Suguru was staring at him.  Before he had only been sending Shuichi warning glances every once in awhile, though now that Shuichi was making it blatantly obvious that he was doing nothing, Suguru was staring at him.  His eyebrows were pulled close over his eyes, and his mouth was pulled into such a tight frown that it made his cheeks look thinner.  Shuichi stared back at him expressionlessly, though he continued to suck on the pencil.

            "Shindo-san," Suguru said at last, irritated with Shuichi's lack of response, "what are you doing?"

            "Nothing," Shuichi said, putting the pencil between his back teeth and biting off the eraser.  He pulled it out of his mouth, and then put it back in, deciding that it tasted rather delicious for something that technically was not edible.

            "Exactly," Suguru growled.  He struck a key on the keyboard, as if for effect, and then pointed towards the door.  "Once K gets back, you'll be dead."

            Shuichi looked at the door and frowned.  K had been gone a long time, as had Sakano.  It was strange—they should have known from past experiences not to leave Shuichi to his own devices without a boss wielding the power to fire and/or shoot him as his guardian.

            "…And we've got only a few more weeks left to make three new songs," Suguru was saying, counting something off on his fingers.  Shuichi blinked and stood up.  "If you don't start writing a new song soon, we're going to be put behind schedule, and we might have to delay release dates, and you know what Sakano's reaction to that will be…"

            Shuichi was at the door now.  He was about to pull it open when it seemingly magically opened all by itself.  Shuichi began to wonder if maybe the studio was haunted, or even better, maybe he had telekinetic powers, when cold steel touched his forehead and his thought processes ceased completely.

            "Where are you going?"

            "To the bathroom," Shuichi said on instinct.  The gun was removed from his forehead, and suddenly Shuichi found his ability to think had come back.

            "Hurry it up," K said, stepping aside to let Shuichi through.  Shuichi nodded and gulped as he stepped past his agent, wondering just what was making K so mellow today.  Shuichi was expecting him to add at least seven more bullet holes to the wall, and yet he had not fired a single shot.

            Strange.  Anyway, it didn't matter, because he was now in the hallway, and not the studio that K occupied, and that meant that he could go anywhere he wanted without getting shot.  He really didn't have to go to the bathroom, but he didn't want to let K know that he had lied to him, so he decided to wander around the hallways for a certain amount of time.  He decided to make that time long too, just to make it more believable that he had actually gone to the bathroom.

            However, upon walking up and down the hallway three times consecutively, he began to grow bored with that hallway.  He took a chance, knowing that he may get lost among the throngs of hallways creating the maze that was NG Records, and climbed the stairs to the next level.

            Level Four.  A level in which he had never entered before.  A level forbidden to him.  A level that had remained a mystery the whole time he had been an employee at NG.  Level Four.

            Shuichi realized that Level Four looked very much the same as Level Three.  The walls were painted the same color, the floors were made out of the same material, the potted plants were of the same species…  It even had the same layout, and Shuichi was able to find the studio that would be his rehearsal studio, had he been on Level Three instead of Level Four.

            "Interesting," Shuichi said, cocking one eyebrow higher than the other and placing a finger on his chin thoughtfully.  "Very interesting…"

            "A-ah!  Shindo-kun?" called a familiar voice, wracked with fidgety anxiety.  Shuichi turned to find just who he had expected running towards him with his arm raised in something of a wave.  "Shindo-kun, what are you doing here?  Shouldn't you be practicing?"

            Shuichi looked up at his manager with a frown.  This was not good.  He had been caught ditching his work, and if Sakano brought him back to the studio and told K where he had found him, Shuichi would be in a mite of trouble.  Worry creased his brow for a brief instant before an exceptionally clever lie pushed its way into his mind.  It was so clever that it even amazed him; usually he was not that sharp.

            "I think I'm lost.  I looked in the studio," he pointed down the hallway, "but there were other people in there.  Did we move, or something?"

            "Ah, Shindo-kun, no," Sakano said, his face relaxing a little, though it was so subtle that one had to know him well to be able to see it.  "This is the Fourth Level."

            "Oh," Shuichi said, keeping himself calm to keep up the lie.  It was lucky that Sakano bought it, he decided.  "Then what are you doing here?"

            "He would be here," interjected a new voice that Shuichi recognized immediately, "because I had called him here."  Tohma stepped up to Sakano.  Shuichi blinked and tried to remain calm, though he wasn't sure why he was excited in the first place.  "It's nice to see you again, Shindo-san," he said, seeming to ignore the fact that they had been together in his office only a few hours ago kissing.  That was before Ryuichi had walked in on them, and Shuichi had gotten so embarrassed that he had actually run off to work willingly.

            Even thinking about it made him feel humiliated again.  He had to work hard to keep his blush in check so that Sakano would not notice, though he was pretty certain that Tohma already had seen it.  "Seguchi-san," Shuichi greeted with an awkward bow.

            "Well, this is very convenient actually," Tohma said, crossing his arms over his chest and smiling broadly.  "I need to talk to you as well, Shindo-san.  On more…private matters…"  A quick glance to Sakano sent him away with a deep bow, leaving Tohma and Shuichi alone together.

            "Is there something wrong?" Shuichi asked nervously.  For some reason, a hint of dread was creeping up his spine and attacking his brain.

            "Well," Tohma started, though his voice trailed off.  He gestured for Shuichi to follow him and led him into a deserted studio, where he closed and locked the door as Shuichi sat down on the floor with a wicked grin across his face.  However, as soon as Tohma turned to reveal his menacing expression, Shuichi's grin faded into a frown.  Tohma sighed and leaned against the wall, folding his arms again.  "Shindo-san, I've decided that this relationship is not a good idea."

            "Wha—"

            "Eiri-san arrived here today.  He was very upset."

            "Yuki came?" Shuichi asked, tightening his fists around his shorts.  He lowered his head so that his bangs blocked his eyes from sight.  "You shouldn't listen to what he said.  He—"

            Tohma laughed, and the sound of it chilled Shuichi's bones.  "It's not what he said, Shindo-san.  It's what I said."

            Shuichi glanced up at Tohma quizzically, urging him to continue.  However, his eyes dulled when he noticed the satisfied smirk Tohma was wearing.

            "He knows about what happened last night," Tohma added in a pleasant tone.  "I should have predicted this wouldn't work out between us, mainly because of him…"

            "Shut up," Shuichi whispered, pressing his hands to his ears, though it seemed to do nothing to block Tohma's voice.

            "I doubt he'll take you back," Tohma continued mercilessly.  "Maybe he would have before, but after this…"

            "SHUT UP!" Shuichi screamed, jumping to his feet.  He ran towards the door and struggled to open it, though he soon got the lock open.  He threw it open and ran down the hallway silently without looking back.

            He missed the cruel smile Tohma was wearing as he watched Shuichi disappear from sight.

========

            Yuki arrived at his apartment in something of a daze.  He locked the door, removed his shoes, and turned to trudge back to his study, bracing himself for the imminent glomp he would receive, all of this being his daily habitual behavior.  He vaguely noticed the boy with pink hair sitting on his table; he was used to Shuichi being there, and it was nothing out of the ordinary.  His body stiffened as he waited for the pink-haired boy to throw his body at him, though after a few minutes of no impact, Yuki began to wonder what was going on.

            Upon wondering, however, his mind returned to him, and the events of the day began to swirl around in his head.  He inspected the figure on his table hopefully, though upon noting that the hair was actually not pink, but rather was a chocolate brown beneath a pink mass of stuffed animal, Yuki's spirits lowered in disappointment.  Instantly he felt annoyed with himself instead, cursing his own stupidity that allowed him to miss the book being cradled in Ryuichi's hands—reading was something Shuichi never quite mastered.

            "What are you doing here?" he said spitefully, glaring at Ryuichi.

            "Got off work early," Ryuichi replied absently.  Yuki grunted and walked closer to him, looking at the book closely and noticing it was once again his copy of his novel _Cool_.

            "Why are you so intent on finishing that?" Yuki muttered.  "I thought you said you didn't like it."

            "I don't," Ryuichi stated.  "It's awful."

            "Then why do you insist on reading it?" Yuki persisted.

            "I wanna know if she gets a puppy.  I think that would be happy," Ryuichi said.  He paused to turn a page, and then his eyes began to scan the page.  Only once did he stop for a dictionary before he turned the page again, and Yuki almost felt like smiling.

            "You look like you're getting better at reading," he observed.  Ryuichi looked up at him and blinked confusedly, seeming to have forgotten his presence, or at least he was wondering why Yuki was still hovering around.

            Yuki, too, found himself wondering why he had not retreated back to his study to work on his new novel.

            "No, there's just not as many big words this far into the book," Ryuichi informed.  Yuki sighed, knowing that that was not the case, though he doubted he could convince Ryuichi that he had actually learned something, and that maybe his vocabulary had increased a bit after looking up every single word he didn't understand.

            Yuki started towards his study, though once he reached the hallway, he stopped and turned around.  "A puppy?" he asked distantly.  "The girl should have a puppy.  Brings out sentiments if I kill the trusty best friend…"  He smiled, his sudden inspiration burning in his fingers, and turned towards his study again.  He only took one step, however, before he swung around and frowned again.  "Wait, what are you doing here?"

            "Are you talking to me?" Ryuichi asked, bringing his hand up to point towards himself.  He lowered it and smiled.  "Or are you still talking to yourself?"

            Yuki growled.

            "I already said, I got off work early."

            "So why'd you come here?" Yuki hissed.  "You don't live here.  I locked the door."

            "Uh-huh, that's why you gave me the key, remember?" Ryuichi said, setting the book aside and reaching into his pocket.  He pulled out his duplicate of the house key with a grin.

            "I didn't give you that," Yuki replied irritably.

            Ryuichi blinked at the key before putting it back in his pocket.  He gathered up the book again and his eyes began to drift up and down the page as he read along.

            "You don't live here," Yuki said, though he knew it was a lost cause.  Ryuichi was already completely ignoring him, being far too absorbed in his book to recognize where he was anymore.  Yuki decided to leave Ryuichi be, since he had just given him a good idea for an element in his story, something that he never recalled Shuichi ever doing.

            It wouldn't matter if Ryuichi stayed there for a few hours, as long as he didn't make any noise, after all.

            Once in his study, Yuki sat down at his desk and opened his laptop.  Despite his lack of food, sleep, and oxygen for the past two days, his muse was not lacking in the least.  The words came out of his fingers smoothly and easily, flowing together so nicely that he stopped having to think about what to write next.  He was amazed at this sudden ability to write, and he began to wonder when the last time he wrote like this was.

            He didn't stop writing until he remembered when that time was.  His fingers stopped with a jolt, causing a few nonsense letters to end the last word he had typed, and he stared at the screen with wide eyes.

            He hadn't written like that since before he had met Shuichi.  With stiff awkwardness, he set his elbows down on the desk around his computer and buried his face in his hands.  Not since before Shuichi.  When Shuichi came, writing began to take effort.  Was Shuichi really such a hindrance?

            "Maybe this is a good thing," Yuki thought aloud, squeezing his eyes shut.  "Maybe I'm better off without him after all."  He sighed heavily and dropped his hand to see his work.  After deleting the last few letters he had typed, he saved his work just as a voice interrupted him.

            "Na!  Aren't you hungry?  It's already 7:30."

            Yuki turned to see Ryuichi pouting at him from the doorway.  It was then that he noticed the emptiness in his stomach, and for the first time in two days he actually felt like eating.  Still, he wasn't about to make dinner for his intruder.

            "I don't have any food," Yuki replied.

            "Oh!  Goodie!" Ryuichi exclaimed, jumping into the study happily.  "We should get pizza.  I like pizza.  Mmm.  It's yummy."

            Yuki sighed softly.  Pizza sounded really good.  Actually, it was so irresistible that Yuki didn't bother to argue with Ryuichi at all, and instead reached under his desk for a phone book.  Upon finding a number, his hand moved to the phone and hovered above it for a second, just as it began to ring.  Yuki snatched it up irritably.

            "Hello?" he muttered angrily.

            "Yuki-san?" said the voice on the other line.  Yuki frowned; the voice sounded familiar to him, though he couldn't quite place its owner.

            "Yes?"

            "This is Nakano Hiroshi," said the voice, and immediately Yuki was able to place it with Shuichi's red-haired friend.

            "What do you want?  Shuichi doesn't live here anymore," Yuki said coldly.

            "So he's not there then?"

            "What?" Yuki asked, his face paling a bit.

            "Shuichi…  He disappeared today, and no one knows where he went.  I thought he might have gone back to you.  Are you sure you haven't seen—"

            Yuki didn't bother listening to the rest.  He hung up to phone and swallowed hard, his previous thoughts against Shuichi vanished from his mind entirely.  His hands were trembling slightly, and he quickly moved them into his lap to hide them from sight.

            "Yuki-san?  What's wrong?  Who was that?" Ryuichi questioned, though his voice seemed far away to Yuki.

            "This…  This is all my fault," Yuki said, rising to his feet.  "I shouldn't have kicked him out."

            "Yuki-san, what happened?" Ryuichi asked, fear finally ebbing its way into his voice.

            Yuki marched past him, stopping only to say, "I'm going to look for Shuichi."  With that, he stomped away, grabbing his coat on the way out.  

Ryuichi paused for only a few moments before running after him and hollering, "Wait!  Yuki!  I'll help you find Shu-chan!"

            It wasn't Yuki's fault, Ryuichi decided as he quickly caught up with the blond novelist.  Being a long-time friend, he could only guess that Tohma had something to do with this.  If Shuichi got hurt, then Tohma would have to answer to Ryu-chan.

TBC

========

Notes:  All you reviewers, thank you!  You make me feel so loved.

Happiness.

Peace.

And.

Love.

And yes, I know, Tohma is a cruel bastard.  I think it fits his image well.

Until next time.

Cassi


	10. Deep Kiss

Chapter 10 

            Yuki sighed and let his head drop against the armrest.  He was exhausted; it was well into the morning, and he and Ryuichi had been searching for the past nine hours without finding so much as a clue of Shuichi's whereabouts.  His eyes closed as sleep began to creep towards him, though they shot back open when a sharp jolt nearly sent him off the edge of the couch.  He angrily sat up and glared at the other end where Ryuichi was perched after presumably jumping there, picking at his fingernails in distress.  Yuki growled at him and let his head fall again, though the continual quivering of the couch caused by Ryuichi's anxious state was merciless.

            "Quit it," Yuki snarled, glaring at Ryuichi with as much malice as he could muster.  "You'll ruin your pretty nails.  I'm sure _Tohma_ would hate that."  The name Tohma was almost too hard for him to say, he found.

            "Shu-chan might be in trouble," Ryuichi said, lifting his hand to his mouth to let his teeth begin to work, though he pulled it away when a drop of blood issued from his fingertip.

            "There's nothing we can do," Yuki said irritably.  "If he doesn't show up by tonight, we'll file a missing persons report—"

            "Tonight?  But that's so far away!  So many things can happen by then!"

            Yuki lifted his head just enough to enable himself to glimpse Ryuichi's face, though upon seeing the tears welling in his eyes, Yuki almost felt like crying himself.  Quickly he hid his face under his arm and rolled over on the couch.

            "He can take care of himself," Yuki said, though he knew the worry in his voice prevented it from giving any reassurance.

            "Are you sure?"

            Yuki removed his arm from his face and studied Ryuichi with a frown.  There was something strange in his darkened eyes, a clouded worry that seemed almost too intense and surpassed just loving friendship.  Yuki pushed himself into a sitting position and sighed heavily, the image of the scene in Tohma's office suddenly returning to him.

            "Then," he started awkwardly, and sighed again before continuing, "what exactly is Shuichi to you?"

            Ryuichi blinked at him, and for a brief instant the anxiety left his eyes to be replaced by a dull stare.  However, the worry came back quickly, and Ryuichi sent him a wry, nervous smile.  "Shuichi's my friend."

            "That's all?"

            Ryuichi looked confused for a moment, though his smile soon broke out again, even bigger and more sincere than before.  "Shuichi's my best friend," he stated proudly.

            Yuki lifted his eyebrow, though he didn't persist any further.  Letting himself sink deeper into the cushions, he watched as Ryuichi began to attack his nails again with clouded eyes, and he almost felt relieved that he wasn't as anxious as that.  He rubbed his eyes, knowing that sleep was probably impossible, especially with the constant nail-picking going on beside him, though despite that, he found his body relaxing instinctively, and he doubted he would be able to get up for anything.

            He was proved wrong, however, when a loud pounding echoed from his door, and out of shock he sprung to his feet.  He stood for a moment as the dizziness and darkness that had engulfed his vision receded and began to wonder if he had actually heard anything at all, or if it was his sleepy delirium making him hallucinate.  He glanced down at Ryuichi in hope of an answer and got just that; the singer was staring it the door fearfully and wistfully at the same time, looking just as Yuki felt.

            "Shuichi," Yuki whispered as he dashed towards the door.  He grabbed the handle and fiddled with the locks angrily, wishing that he hadn't been so paranoid and locked the door.  After a few seconds, which seemed like hours to him, he opened the last lock and flung the door open, ready to gather the pink-haired singer in his arms and apologize profusely.

            Upon seeing his visitor, however, his heart fell instantly, and all he could do was stare disbelievingly at him.

            "Tohma…" Yuki heard Ryuichi's voice behind him, though it hit his ears with a painful ring that caused a headache beyond what he had ever experienced before.

            "Perhaps I really shouldn't have come so early," Tohma said, his voice hurting even more than Ryuichi's.  "You look awful, Eiri-san."  

He smiled and stepped past a stunned Yuki into the apartment.  When he saw Ryuichi sitting on the couch with his knees pulled into his chest, Tohma lifted a quizzical eyebrow and glanced back at Yuki, whom still had not moved from his place at the doorway.  Deciding that Yuki would not be a good source of information, he once again turned to Ryuichi and took a step towards him.

            "I assume from your exhausted expressions that you two were out looking for Shindo-sa—"

            Tohma let out a strangled squeak as a strong arm wrapped around his neck from behind and pulled him backwards.  He flung his hands up to grip the arm in an attempt to pry it away for another taste of precious oxygen, though it was no use.  He clutched the arms and jumped from the ground, kicking his legs in any direction until his heel contacted with something hard, and the hold on his throat loosened enough for him to breathe again.

            "I'll kill you," Yuki's voice hissed from behind, and his hand came to cup around Tohma's forehead and hold it back against his shoulder.  "I hate you."

            "This isn't my fault!" Tohma cried.  He tightened his hold around the arm, attempting to dig his fingernails into the skin in order to cause enough pain so that he would be released, but the long-sleeved fabric was preventing him from doing so.

            "How is this not your fault?" Yuki questioned bitterly with a cynical smile creeping onto his lips.  It disappeared quickly, though, and he craned his neck forward so that his lips were just beside Tohma's cheek.  "You deceived Shuichi, and you deceived me.  This was all part of a brilliant plan to break us up, wasn't it?"

            Tohma gasped as the arm tightened around his neck, and on instinct he brought his leg forward, and then swung it backwards with all his might.  Once again, his heel contacted with something hard, presumably Yuki's shin, and the hold on him loosened just enough for him to break free.  He swung around and lifted his arms in defense as Yuki lunged at him and knocked him off his feet onto the ground.  He felt one of Yuki's hands pinning his chest to the floor and opened his eyes to see Yuki perched on top of him, his face twisted into a loathing glare and his right fist inches away from his cheek, ready to slam down into Tohma's face at the first command.  Tohma doubted he would have been able to escape, had it not been for an intruder.

            "STOP!!!" Ryuichi cried, throwing himself at Yuki and knocking him off Tohma.  Upon realizing his freedom, Tohma jumped to his feet and pushed a shaky hand against the bottom of his neck, as if willing his throat to open for breath again, as he coughed softly.  Once his breath returned enough that he could breathe enough to sustain consciousness, he allowed his mind to return to the scene around him and stared fearfully at Yuki, whom was now being restrained by a determined-looking Ryuichi clutching his wrist tightly.

            "Wasn't it?" Yuki repeated, causing Ryuichi to take a cautious step in front of him.

            Tohma remained silent; unable to think of anything to say, he decided saying nothing would keep him out of further trouble.

            "You had no feelings for Shuichi…  The whole time, you were just leading him on, for what?" Yuki paused, as if for a moment of thought.  When he spoke again, his voice was less sure as it had been before.  "For me?  Is that what you wanted?"

            Tohma once again didn't respond, knowing that Yuki would find the answer in his silence.  Yuki waited a few seconds before growling and readying himself to advance once again before Ryuichi stepped fully in front of him with his back towards Tohma.  Rising onto his toes to be almost level with Yuki, Ryuichi leaned towards him and placed a gently hand on his cheek, looking over his shoulder at Tohma with a malicious glint in his unusually narrow and mature eyes.

            "Not that it matters," Ryuichi said, smiling wryly.  "Shindo, and you… don't matter anymore.  Not to us."

            Tohma felt his eyes widen involuntarily as Ryuichi leaned forward and placed a kiss on Yuki's lips.  Yuki looked almost frightened for a second before closing his eyes and pushing Ryuichi's head closer to deepen the kiss.

            Tohma stepped backwards unconsciously in shock, almost falling over when his leg hit the hard coffee table on the floor behind him.  He fell out of his trance-like state and placed a hand over his eyes, as if to hide his face in embarrassment, and clumsily dashed out the open doorway away from the horrible sight.  He stumbled all the way out of the building to fall against a tree and remain there helplessly with the realization of his failure clouding his eyes.

            "Everything I've done," he whispered to himself, needing to hear his thoughts aloud.  "Everyone I've hurt…  It was for nothing…  It wasn't supposed to work like this…"

            Desperately holding back the tears stinging his eyes, he staggered to his car and pulled open the door, collapsing in the passenger seat and burying his face in his hands as the tears started to flow.

            Ryuichi pulled away from Yuki quickly, his eyebrows twisted upwards in a sorrowful apology.  He clamored backwards, tripping over his feet and falling to the floor in a disarrayed heap of limbs.  He pushed himself up onto his hands and stared at Yuki fearfully.

            "I…  I'm soooo sorry!" he cried, bowing his head low.  "I didn't mean to…  I mean, I did mean to, but I didn't mean anything by doing that.  It was just—" he paused for a second, gasping for breath, "—it was just that Tohma was being so mean.  I didn't mean what I said about Shu-chan not being important…  I just…" his voice trailed off.

            "Forget it," Yuki said, striding towards the kitchen upon the realization that his appetite had finally come back to him after nearly three days of nothing.  He was starving.  "It was a good idea for pissing him off."

            "It was my way," Ryuichi said, jumping to his feet and following Yuki closely, though he had to trot to keep up with his long strides, "of paying him back for hurting Shu-chan."

            He giggled softly, though he let out a strangled yelp when colliding with Yuki's broad back.  Confusedly, he stepped to the side to study Yuki's face, which seemed to be a mixture of shock and disbelief.  Ryuichi glanced around the kitchen in an attempt to determine what had caused such a reaction, though upon finding nothing out of the ordinary, he looked back to Yuki and began to scratch his head in wonderment.  He remained like this for a few more moments before Yuki sighed with a hint of a mocking laugh hidden within it, and shook his head.

            "How could I have been so stupid?" he muttered, swinging around towards the front door.  "Of course…  He has to be there!"

            "Yuki-san?" Ryuichi asked, watching the novelist rush out the door.  It slammed shut with a bang, and Ryuichi frowned as he made his way over to the couch.  "Hmm," he said aloud, pulling Kumagorou out from seemingly nowhere and staring at it questioningly.  "I wonder if he was talking about Shu-chan?"

========

            Shuichi shivered lightly and instinctively reached towards his feet in search of the blankets, though upon finding none, he lazily opened his eyes and was hit with a moment of confusion when realizing he had no idea where he was.  He lay there for a while, wondering what had happened.  He was on a bench, a park bench, and over the trees he could see the sun rising slowly, illuminating the musty smog of the city with a golden haze.

            He tried desperately to remember when he had become a hobo, and if perhaps his entire life, his childhood, his job at NG, and his relationship with the novelist Yuki Eiri, had been one long dream.

            Or maybe not…  Maybe this was the dream instead.  But still, it sure was cold, and uncomfortable, and everything seemed kind of normal for a dream.  There was always, at some point or another, the invariable appearance of one Yuki Eiri in every single dream he ever had since he had met the author, though Shuichi did not see him anywhere.  Besides, there was also no Kumagorou, and Shuichi had been having dreams about Kumagorou ever since he had heard of Nittle Grasper.  Taking this into consideration, Shuichi decided that this was not a dream either.

            However, there was still the question of when he had taken up this extreme likeness to a hobo.  He breathed a sigh and lifted his eyes to stare at the clouds surrounding the sun, which was now barely above the tops of the buildings.  That was it…  It was too early.  There was no way he could figure out something like this at such an early hour.  It had to be at the most nine o'clock.

            "Gotta think…of what…I'm going to say to…Seguchi-san for…being late…again…" Shuichi mumbled, shifting on the bench and folding his arm under his head as a pillow.  "Hope…he doesn't…kill me…Seguchi—"

            With a tight gasp, Shuichi flung his body into a sitting position and rubbed his head gingerly as tears began to well in his eyes.  Not only did he now know where he was, that being the park where he had first met Yuki, but he also remembered why he had come there in the first place.  Groaning sadly, Shuichi slumped forward and pressed his forehead into his hands, his elbows digging into his thighs under the weight.

            "Yuki, Yuki, Yuki, Yuki, Yuki, Yuki, Yuki, Yuki, Yuki, Yuki," he chanted, shaking his head in a defeated manner.  "Dammit…"

            Lifting his head from his hands, he turned his eyes to rest on the spot on the sidewalk, the point just before it curved sideways, lined with tall brushes.  In a quick flashback, Shuichi found himself staring at Yuki, dressed in black, smoking a cigarette with the smoke gracefully curling upwards and disappearing in the darkness of the night, studying Shuichi's lyrics with a cynical glint in his eyes.  Then, almost like magic, the darkness retreated into nothingness, and once again the brush was lit by the natural sunlight instead of the artificial streetlights, the figure before him was gone, and he could only see the empty walkway curving sideways.

            "Why did I come here?" Shuichi grumbled, leaning back on the bench and pulling his knees into his chest.  He sighed, and then suppressed a sob as he wiped a tear out of his eye.  "Stupid, stupid Tohma…"  He paused and bit his lip, and then released it, breathing into his knees.  "No…  I'm stupid.  How could I let this happen?  I'm such an—"

            "Idiot?" a deep voice finished.  Shuichi shot his head up to meet narrow golden eyes studying him with some unreadable emotion hidden within them.

            "Yu-Yuki?" Shuichi gasped, blinking at him in disbelief.

            A hint of a smile crossed Yuki's face as he knelt down to be level with Shuichi.  "You are the biggest idiot I've ever met."

            Shuichi felt his cheeks grow hot, and he lowered his head to hide them as much as he could while still staring at Yuki fixedly.  "I'm sorry…  Yuki.  I'll never do that again.  I'll never sleep with anyone else…not ever, even if you don't want me anymore…"

            Yuki sighed and took a seat beside Shuichi on the bench.  With a quick glance around to make sure no one was present to see, he tenderly placed an arm around Shuichi's shoulders and pulled the boy closer to him.  "Idiot," he whispered.  "Sacrificing your whole future love life because of a stupid promise you made to me?"

            Shuichi let out a defeated sigh and closed his eyes, willing his tears to stop gathering in his eyes.  He pulled his knees even closer and snuggled into Yuki's shoulder.  "So then…  You don't want me back?  I guess I understand."

            "I don't think you do," Yuki said, smiling fully now that Shuichi's eyes were closed.  "Although I do rather disapprove of your…faithless…style, technically we weren't together at the time, and it was partly Seguchi's fault."

            Shuichi blinked his eyes open, and Yuki forced his smile away just in time; wide, beseeching violet eyes caught his, blinking quizzically.

            "And yes," Yuki said with a sigh, "that does mean that I forgive you."

            "Really?" Shuichi asked, leaning forward and resting his chin on Yuki's shoulder so that he could stare at him with little effort.

            "Really," Yuki replied, forcing his voice to sound irritated.  "When that friend of yours said you disappeared, we spent all night looking for you."

            "You and Hiro went looking for me?"

            Yuki narrowed his eyes in a moment of confusion and glanced down at Shuichi, though as he did so, realization hit.  "N-no," he said incoherently before managing to gather his voice, "no, I went with that Sakuma guy—" he stopped upon realizing that that would require further explanation, leading him down the path of admitting that somehow Sakuma had come to live with him, which would raise even further questions that Yuki was completely unprepared to deal with.  He frowned irritably, wondering why this hadn't occurred to him before.  Not only that, but he also wouldn't be able to deny all accusations that would inevitably be thrown towards him for living with the pop idol, since they had shared a kiss just a few minutes beforehand.  Even if it didn't mean anything, it was still a kiss.

            "Ryuichi was looking for me too?" Shuichi asked timidly.

            Yuki's frown grew larger.  "Yes."

            "Wow…  I didn't know he cared so much," Shuichi said distantly.  He broke into a smile and lunged forward, wrapping his arms around Yuki's neck in a tight hug.  "I was feeling so awful before, and then…  Now everything's so much better!" he cried, burying his face in Yuki's golden locks.  Yuki sighed contently and slid his hands around the slender waist, pulling Shuichi tight so that he could touch as much of the small body as possible at one time.

            "Let's go home, all right?  Shu-chan?" Yuki sang, pushing his arm under Shuichi's knees and pulling him into his lap so that his legs were draped lifelessly to the side.  Shuichi squealed in delight as he leaned forward and pecked at Yuki's cheek.  Smiling, Yuki lifted Shuichi lightly in his arms and rose to his feet, exerting only a little extra energy to carry Shuichi, whom was perfectly capable of walking himself.  He didn't mind; it was only a slight effort, and besides, it wasn't as though he didn't enjoy the way Shuichi was letting out high-pitched purrs as he nuzzled Yuki's neck like a cat.  In fact, he even sacrificed his dignity and carried Shuichi all the way home like that, pretending not to notice the enquiring glances the early-morning passersby were giving them.

            Of course, upon approaching his apartment, Yuki realized yet another thing he had forgotten to consider—that being the fact that he had left Ryuichi at home, and although he was sure Shuichi wouldn't mind living with his idol, Yuki was certain he himself would become annoyed with the childish vocalist's constant presence and…interruptions…  He was pleasantly surprised, however, to find his apartment Ryuichi-less.  In fact, there was not a clue that Ryuichi had been there at all; there were no stuffed animals strewn about, no CDs or videotapes piled on the coffee table, and even all his romance novels and dictionaries were put neatly back into their proper places.

            Yuki, amazed at how extremely well this day was going, especially compared to the last few, decided to take another step to make it even better.  Setting Shuichi down on the couch, he slid in place beside him and began to kiss the boy's neck ravenously.  When Shuichi let out an excited gasp, Yuki allowed himself a break for oxygen and rested his head on Shuichi's shoulder, instantly relaxing and almost falling asleep on top of him.  He had forgotten to take into consideration that he had not slept in the last three days and was running on whatever amounts of caffeine was left in his system from the previous day.

            "Yuki?  Are you okay?" Shuichi's voice interrupted his sleepless purgatory.  Yuki forced his eyes open and breathed in Shuichi's scent, though he could not bring himself to lift his head off the boy's shoulder.

            "No," Yuki said angrily, letting his eyes close.  He used his own weight to push Shuichi's body deeper into the couch to make his pillow flatter and much more comfortable.  Forgetting his previous intentions, Yuki shifted above Shuichi until he was fully content with the position, so as to not have any back or neck pains when he awoke.

            "Yuki?"

            "Shut up," Yuki muttered, feeling his consciousness slipping away quickly.  He managed to mumble something about sleep before it finally came, though Shuichi took the hint and obediently remained still beneath him, deciding that maybe that park bench hadn't really giving him much justice, and besides, he could always sleep when he really needed to.

            Wrapping his arms around the still body above him, Shuichi smiled tearfully and whispered softly into his sleeping lover's ear, "Tohma might be my second choice, but you'll always be my first."

TBC

========

Notes:  Feh…  This chapter was really fun to write, and yet kind of hard at the same time.  Sorry, I got a lot of requests for no Yuki x Ryuichi, but this was kind of necessary to get rid of Tohma, so… yeah…  It's not that bad, is it?

Speaking of Tohma, I need some help as to what to do with him, 'cause, as you can probably tell, the end is coming soon… sadly enough…  But I am still unsure as to what his fate will be.  So you people get to help me!  Yay!  Still, who knows?  Maybe I'll get struck with sudden inspiration and figure it out by myself…  But I can do so few things by myself, so probably not.

Speaking of getting struck with things, this chapter would have come out a day earlier than it did, but sorry, there was a huge thunderstorm and I was worried my house would get struck by lightning, so I quit early.  We actually got a flicker when a house not too far away got struck…  Luckily it didn't affect my computer, because I was working on this that very moment and I hadn't saved in about an hour so I would have lost the whole second half of the chapter.  And that would have been very bad.  Besides, I didn't want my computer to get fried, so I stopped.  I would probably cry if my computer got fried.  Like chicken.

Anyway, next chapter will probably be the last, but I really can't promise anything…  I'm surprised this is ending so soon, seeing as though I was making it up as I went along…  Not that I would ever write a story without thinking it through beforehand…  Actually, I really just wanted to write a Shuichi x Tohma romance/humor fic, but it didn't even really end up being that…  I think that was because of Yuki's presence, though.

Until next time.

Cassi


	11. Clothes Thief

Chapter 11 

            Tohma leaned back in his chair, absently reaching into his pocket in search of a pack of cigarettes, though upon finding the said pocket empty, he frowned and shook his head, musing at the habit that he obviously had not quite broken.  It was strange though; he had not smoked in years.

            Not for about five years, actually.  It was a habit he had picked up after the incident in New York…the first of his plans that had ever failed.  That had been the biggest lost for him, considering that it had made the one he loved most hate him.  Before, he had never gone so far as to say that Eiri hated him indefinitely, but now, as he could see from his second plan that failed, Shuichi had snatched away any remnants of love Eiri might still have harbored for him.  It was a lost cause now; there was no point left in fighting anymore.

            Tohma stuck a pencil in his mouth as a substitute, amazed at his body's sudden desire for the old drugs.  He chewed on the eraser relentlessly until it was ripped halfway off the metal tip, when he realized its state and reluctantly removed it from his teeth.  He sighed heavily, closing his eyes and rubbing his temples firmly in an attempt to eradicate the dreary weight upon his eyelids that the previous restless night had thrust onto him.  After a few seconds of rubbing with no results, he clenched his teeth and swung around, staring out his window at the passersby down below.  He saw, within the thinning crowd, a pair of heads, a man and a woman, happily trotting along, completely oblivious of the world around them, basking in their so-called eternal bliss.

            "Dammit," Tohma whispered, turning his chair back away from the sight.  He stared at the countless stacks of papers lined neatly on his desk; he had been getting so far behind in work lately…

            Contracts were mostly what the stacks consisted of.  Contracts of new bands waiting to be signed on.  Contracts of Nittle Grasper's new album, impending tour, and scheduled concerts.  Building repairs, office supplies, computers, recording mixers, desks, instruments…  Contracts for Bad Luck's new song, if Shuichi would ever show up to record it…

            Not that Shuichi's absence was a bad thing.  Of course, Tohma could only imagine what kind of things he was skipping work to engage in with Eiri, though truth be told, Tohma's dread of seeing the vocalist far outweighed his jealousy.  He could have handled a possible altercation had he met the singer in the halls, though he frankly didn't want to.  It would be horribly awkward, and he just wasn't in the mood to deal with such trifle things.

            Trifle.  It seemed trifle, though it hardly was to him.  The second time his plans ever failed weighed almost as heavily on him as the first.  It was at first, Eiri hates me; and then, Eiri hates me indefinitely.  Trifle to others, but definitely not to him.  Worst of all, it made him feel as though his divorce with Mika had been an utter waste; if he had known this would happen, he wouldn't have ever been in such a hurry to separate from her, and he might have even tried to keep the relationship going longer, if that was possible.

            Of course, if he had, he would always wonder what could have been.  At least now he knew the truth, even if it was this bitter.

            "I should really get to work," Tohma thought aloud, as if saying it would help motivate him.  With a dissatisfied sigh, he reached over and pulled out a contract on the top of a stack, though as the multiple papers became unattached and fluttered down to a disarrayed position on his floor, Tohma cursed softly and agitatedly began to reorganize them into a nice little packet.  Upon further investigation, Tohma realized the reason for the papers' sudden departure from each other; they had been held together by a mere paperclip, which now lay discarded on the floor by the base of his chair.  Tohma lined the contract up neatly, muttering, "Haven't these people ever heard of a stapler?"  He then reached blindly towards his desk for his own, though when his hand hit the cup that served as a pencil-holder, he realized his stapler seemed to have been misplaced.  Lifting his eyes, he studied his desk in search of the instrument, though other than the various writing utensils that were now strewn across the top, his desk was rather orderly, thus leaving no place for the stapler to be hidden.

            Tohma set the contract onto his desk and rose to his feet, shuffling lethargically towards the door.  He opened it slowly and poked his head out, his eyes wandering until they came to rest on the pretty young girl sitting at a desk outside his office and staring at a computer screen as her fingers floated across the keyboard expertly.  Tohma began to dig through his memory in an attempt to remember her name.  Hayashi Toshi…  No, that wasn't it…  He tried to think harder, though he could only come up with a blank.  Not that it mattered much.

            "Excuse me," he said with a smile, forced, but he doubted she could tell that.  "Could I please borrow your stapler?"

            The secretary blinked up at him, seemingly startled by his presence, though she quickly broke into a kind smile.  "I'm sorry, sir, but Sakuma-san came up here earlier and borrowed it.  He still hasn't returned."

            Tohma lifted a curious eyebrow, though his lips moved forward into a frown.  "Sakuma-san?" he asked.

            The girl nodded assertively, and then proceeded to stare at Tohma questioningly.  Tohma allowed his frown to grow bigger, and he quickly walked towards the elevator, gracefully sliding past his secretary, though once he was out of sight, he allowed his composure of fall, and he dropped into a tired shuffle.

            "Ryuichi-san," he muttered irritably, messaging his forehead with his fingers as he moved.  It hadn't taken him long to figure out that Ryuichi and Eiri didn't have anything together; once he realized that Shuichi was living with Eiri once again, he could only guess that it had been an act to get rid of him.  Still, it made him feel awful whenever he thought about the sight of Ryuichi and Eiri kissing.  It only meant that even if Shuichi was out of the picture, Eiri would still choose Ryuichi over him.  He smiled sadly as he tried to push the memories out of his mind and replace them with the current events.  "Why would Ryuichi-san need a stapler?"

            A question that would never quite be answered fully.  Of course, Tohma had no intent on searching out Ryuichi—after all, it wasn't as though he needed that particular stapler.  There was no emotional attachment to his secretary's stapler; any old one would do, as long as it worked.  Though, upon further inquiry of the whereabouts of any stapler, Tohma found that sometime over the course of last night through this morning, the whole of NG Records building had become stapler-less.  There also seemed to be two different answers to his questions too, that being, "I'm sorry, sir, but Sakuma-san borrowed it," or, "I'm sorry, sir, but I can't find it anywhere."  Thus, Tohma came to the conclusion that Ryuichi was indeed the culprit.  But, of course, the building seemed to be Ryuichi-less too.

            Tohma was rather irritated.  It wasn't as though Ryuichi was getting in his way; it was more like Ryuichi was providing a welcome distraction to procrastinate his work, though Tohma couldn't decide if he would rather read contracts or chase after a seemingly invisible little rock star.  Both were pretty mindless activities that caused Tohma to go on a path of introspection as he wondered when exactly his life had gone to hell.  Still, he was rather agitated when he found that locating Ryuichi was actually a difficult task.  Usually when Ryuichi hid after getting into trouble, he picked places such as in a laundry basket or under the bathroom sink or other places that a normal four-year-old would choose to hide.  Never had it taken more than twenty minutes to find him, and yet, here it was, the worst day in the world for Tohma, and he was nowhere to be found.

            At one o'clock, Tohma had enlisted the help of Bad Luck, or at least all members that showed up, including K and Sakano.  Because they had no lead singer, whom was the only one who was behind on his work, Bad Luck really had nothing much to work on that day, so it wasn't much trouble for them.  They all set off in different directions, Fujisaki grumbling angrily, Hiro stalking off quietly, Sakano running with fidgety glances and occasionally brushing against walls in his uncontrolled stagger, and K walking proudly and fingering his guns eagerly.  Tohma decided to let them handle it and retired to his office where he proceeded to read and sign contracts, though his mind quickly dulled, and he found himself staring into space from time to time.

            At one fifteen, K barged into his office without so much as a knock, hauling a tearful Ryuichi under his right arm.  He smiled victoriously and set Ryuichi down in a chair across from Tohma's desk, and then immediately began to report the situation.

            Apparently, according to K, Ryuichi had been found on the roof of NG.  He had frozen in fear after peering over the edge of the building and realizing that he was terrified of heights.  It had been hard for K to find him, however, because of the barricade of staplers that had been piled in front of the roof door, though luckily K knew some martial arts and was able to bust it open.  Of course, K's explanation was much more detailed, but that was the gist of it.  Tohma dismissed K, and then eyed Ryuichi, whom now had tears flowing freely down his cheeks as he clutched Kumagorou tightly against his chest.

            "Well?" Tohma asked, leaning forward with an inquisitive smile.

            "Ku-Kumagorou needs a doctor," Ryuichi squeaked, holding up the stuffed rabbit.  Tohma frowned as he studied it carefully, and he quickly noticed that its hand seemed to have been stapled to its ear.

            "Ryuichi-san…" Tohma sighed, rolling his eyes slightly and folding his hands on the desk.  "I don't understand why you insist on doing things like this—"

            "Doctor!" Ryuichi cried, thrusting Kumagorou closer to Tohma's face.

            "Ryui—"

            "Kumagorou NEEDS a doctor RIGHT NOW!" Ryuichi shrieked, shoving Kumagorou into Tohma's face, smothering him until he pulled backwards for more air.  Tohma angrily snatched the animal out of Ryuichi's hands and unbent the staple, pulling it out roughly, though carefully enough so he would not rip it.  Ryuichi took it happily and hugged it greatly, muttering, "Happy…I thought you would die…"

            "As I was saying, I don't understand why you insist on doing things like this, when you know it will not accomplish anything important," Tohma said, though he could not shake the feeling that Ryuichi was not listening as he watched the latter make the stuffed animal do a limp dance across the stacks of documents on his desk.  Tohma lowered his eyes to stare at his folded hands.  "I don't think anyone understands you."

            A pair of soft fabric ears flopped across his hands limply, lifeless from the previous dance, and Tohma glanced up curiously at Ryuichi to find the singer's head lowered, his bangs shading his eyes from the light, and a twisted smile stretching across his lips.

            "Ryuichi…san?"

            "What about you?" Ryuichi said, lifting his head slightly so that the bangs fell back to the normal place, revealing a set of narrow blue eyes that were sparkling with cynicism.  "Nobody knows how you think and why you do the things that you do.  I always thought you liked Shuichi."

            Tohma blinked fearfully at his long-time friend as the past few days' events flooded back into his mind.  He quickly looked to the side to hide the tears that were once again pricking at his eyes.

            "You have the whole aura of being in control of your own destiny, but you always mess everything up that's important.  You depress yourself," Ryuichi continued.  There was a brief pause, before he spoke again, though this time it was in a voice that Tohma was more accustomed to.  "Uh-huh, Tohma is sad because of what he did."

            Ryuichi stared at Tohma for a moment before springing out of his chair onto the top of the desk, sending neatly organized documents held together by paperclips because of the current stapler-less state of the entire building flying and fluttering out in every which direction to end in a scattered mess across Tohma's floor.  Tohma opened his mouth to chastise, though he was quickly silenced when Ryuichi scrambled off the desk and into his lap, where he curled up tightly as if he were a small child.

            "I think Tohma's sad because he lives in a hotel.  I think Tohma should come and live with me, because I have a big house that is really empty," Ryuichi said, snuggling into Tohma's jacket.  His eyes suddenly fluttered open, and he looked around nervously before sighing in relief and snatching Kumagorou off the desk and into his own lap.

            "Ryuichi-san," Tohma sighed, wrapping his arms around the smaller figure.  "You wouldn't like to live with me."

            Ryuichi leaned away and gazed up at Tohma.  "Yes I would."

            "No, Ryuichi."

            Ryuichi frowned and scampered out of Tohma's lap.  He stood and frowned at Tohma with his hands on his hips to accent his disapproval.  "I was just trying to be nice."

            "I understand that, but—"

            "Oh!" Ryuichi cried, flinging Kumagorou out to the side by its ears as his eyes brightened intensely.  "I know!  I bet Tohma's hungry.  That's why he's sad, he's hungry!"  He jumped forward and snatched Tohma's wrist before the latter had a chance to get away and yanked with all his might, nearly causing Tohma to fall straight onto the floor.  Tohma took a few steps to regain his balance but quickly realized he was being hauled out of his office and into the winding maze of hallways of NG on a route to the bottom floor, where the vending machines just happened to be located.

========

            Yuki quickly reached up and fingered the cigarette in his mouth, breathing in another lungful of smoke before pulling it out of his mouth and throwing it onto the ground.  This he did without the slightest hint of losing stride, much to his companion's dismay.

            "Yuki!  I don't wanna go!  I don't want to see him again!" Shuichi cried, clutching at Yuki's sleeve with his clingy fingers.  He was by this time out of breath after having to trot to keep up with his lover's quick pace.

            "Shut up," Yuki replied angrily, wondering how many times he had said that very phrase that day.  He quickly stepped up to the glass doors and gripped the handle before realizing that the clingy fingers had mysteriously become unattached to his sleeve; this was a rather unusual occurrence, one that often meant something was not right.  Yuki growled and turned around to find Shuichi hovering nervously a few steps away, his mouth drawn into a straight line and his eyes wide with anxiousness.

            "I really, really, really, really, really, really—"

            "Will you shut up?  You have to come back here sometime, unless you want to quit your stupid band," Yuki said, advancing towards Shuichi and firmly grasping his wrist.  Shuichi whimpered loudly as Yuki dragged him forward through the doorway and inside the building where the two were stopped promptly by a very flustered secretary who didn't quite seem equipped to handle Yuki's death glare, though she did her job well by keeping her eyes glued to the floor.

            "I'm sorry, sir," she said nervously, her fingers twitching as they clutched her skirt.  "You need some identification."

            Yuki intensified his glare as he thrust Shuichi forward, nearly causing him to collide with the secretary.  "Don't you recognize him?"

            The secretary looked at Shuichi for a few seconds before her pale face paled even further, and she reached the point in nervousness where her eyes actually quivered with fear.  "S-sir, I'm terribly sorry, but entrance to the building is forbidden as ransom payments for hostage situations."

            "What?" Yuki paused as he attempted to understand what the secretary was trying to accuse him of, though eventually he gave up and sighed irritably.  "Listen, I just need to see Seguchi."

            "And like I said, sir, I need some identification," the secretary replied.

            Yuki ran his fingers through his hair angrily and glared down at Shuichi, who by now seemed have had something snap inside his head from the prospect of having to face Tohma again, and was staring blankly at the barren white wall near the corner, just above the potted plant.  "Shuichi, show her your ID."

            Hearing Yuki's voice saying his name was an exceptional occurrence to Shuichi; upon hearing such a thing, he immediately squealed and latched onto the novelist's arm, squeaking out random syllables, though his mind still seemed to be off in the throes of purgatory, a place that to him was much better than wherever Tohma was.

            "Your ID!" Yuki demanded, whipping his arm around and throwing Shuichi to the floor.  The sudden change in position caused Shuichi to return to reality a little bit more, enough to enable him to comprehend the meaning of Yuki's request, and furthermore reach inside his pocket and withdraw his ID.  Yuki took it from his hands and offered it to the secretary, whom studied it closely before handing it back to Shuichi and smiling at him.

            "All right, you're cleared to enter," she said cheerfully, raising her arm to point at a door.  "Seguchi-san is in the snack room with Sakuma-san right now."

            Shuichi cocked his head to the side and whimpered as he jerkily shuffled towards the door, though he stopped when he heard an irritated growl issue from Yuki.  Upon hearing such, he turned to find Yuki once again being hassled by the secretary.

            "I'm sorry, sir, _he's_ cleared to enter, but you, sir, are not," the secretary said.

            "I can't believe this," Yuki muttered, crossing his arms over his chest and shifting his weight to one foot.  He shook his head in disbelief, his lips twisting upwards into a wry smile.  He glared at Shuichi for a moment before marching forward, ignoring the pestering secretary as she screamed at him for his disobedience.  Grabbing Shuichi on the way, Yuki hurried inside the snack room, locking the door behind him and pretending not to notice the shrieks of the secretary from the other side.

            The snack room was not what one usually thinks of when one hears the words "snack room."  It was actually more of a snack hall, or snack restaurant, bordering on being three stories high with dozens of tables and twice as many chairs neatly lined up inside.  There was a huge window that made up the entirety of one wall and let in a blinding amount of light with the only thing interrupting the glass was the thin strips of plastic that bordered each pane.  Yuki winced at the light, suddenly wishing that he had brought his sunglasses; not only did they protect his eyes from blinding lights such as the sun, but they also made him look a lot more cool and menacing.

            They only had to follow the high-pitched giggling in order to locate Tohma, though that sight was borderline disturbing.  Yuki lifted an inquisitive eyebrow as he studied the way Ryuichi was straddling the table and teasing Tohma with something that resembled a cupcake.  Tohma noticed Yuki quickly, and merely smiled warmly before returning to playing with Ryuichi, which Yuki took as a personal insult.  He did not like to be ignored.

            Marching forward angrily, he wrapped an arm around Ryuichi's waist and hauled him off the table before dropping him quickly and allowing him to collapse onto the tiled floor with a squeak of pain.  Yuki turned to glare at Tohma menacingly with his eyes narrowed to the point of being slits so small that it darkened his vision—not that that mattered, since it kept the sunlight out anyway.

            "You stole all my clothes, didn't you?" Yuki said accusingly, once he decided Tohma was not going to start the conversation.

            Tohma smiled fully and shrugged.  "Not all of them."

            "Yes, all of them.  I opened my dresser and they were _all_ gone."

            Tohma chuckled and shook his head.  "If they were _all_ gone, then you would be naked right now, am I right?" he said playfully, though upon realizing what he had just said, his smile faded into a curious expression.  Yuki took the liberty of noticing the way his eyes traveled over his body, and the way his eyebrows arched slightly upwards at the prospect.

            "Quit it," Yuki muttered, though he stopped his breath as he noticed a head of pink hair drift past him.  Shuichi sat down in the chair across from Tohma, sipping on the straw of the cup that seemed that have magically appeared in his hands.  He then pulled the cup away from his mouth and stared innocently at Tohma for a long while, as if he were trying to figure out who he was, while Tohma merely smiled back casually.

            "Good morning," Shuichi said, and then stuck the straw back in his mouth.  Yuki lifted his eyebrow, wondering where all the nervousness the singer had been displaying just a few minutes ago had gone.

            "Good morning, Shindo-san," Tohma replied, and after he was finished speaking, his lips returned to their previous state of smiling.

            "I can't believe this," Yuki muttered, frowning.  "I want my clothes back now."

            Tohma looked at him as his smile faded.  "Eh…?"

            "Listen, Seguchi, you are five times richer than I am, and you can afford to buy your own clothes…  When the hell did you steal mine anyway?"

            Tohma blinked at him.

            "It's not even your style…or your size.  You look weird."

            Tohma cocked his head to the side.  "Eiri-san, I have no idea what you're talking about."

            Yuki narrowed his eyes.  "Fine, give me a goddamn thousand dollars, which is about how much that entire wardrobe is worth, and I'll leave you alone."  That was something, at least, even though he would have to go out and buy the clothes.  However, he had the feeling that Tohma was not going to give in.

            Tohma smiled brightly.  "If you needed money, you should have just told me in the first place!"

            "Yes, I need money.  I hope you don't expect me to pay you back, either, seeing as though it's your fault," Yuki growled.

            "Of course you don't have to pay me back.  I have plenty of money, and besides, you're my little brother!"

            Yuki winced and stepped backwards, though when his foot landed on something soft in contrast to the tile floor, he grunted and shoved his weight forward to prevent from falling backwards and making a fool of himself.  He turned to face a whimpering Ryuichi who was sluggishly rising to his feet.  Yuki watched with narrow eyes as Ryuichi held Kumagorou to his chest and dragged his feet towards the empty chair next to Shuichi.  He sat there for a few minutes, staring at Shuichi who was still sucking at the straw, though Yuki was certain that by now the cup had to be empty.

            "I know!  We should all have lunch together!" Ryuichi cried excitedly, setting Kumagorou onto the table happily.  "Yeah, Kumagorou thinks so too.  What do you think, Shuichi?"

            Shuichi nodded.

            "I think that's a wonderful idea, Ryuichi-san," Tohma interjected with a usual smile.  The three then looked up at Yuki, whom was standing in place awkwardly with a distant look in his eyes, as if he were trying to figure out if this was a dream or not.  Once he had decided that it wasn't, he silently sighed and sat down in the last empty chair next to Tohma, burying his forehead in his hands.

            Yuki moaned in irritation as Ryuichi began to pull random assorted foods from seemingly nowhere and setting it energetically on the table in front of everybody, while Shuichi sipped and Tohma smiled.  It was truly a happy time.

            Yuki wondered just when he had arrived in Hell.

END

========

Notes:  Nyaa.  That's all.  It's finally finished.

Sorry this last chapter took so long to put up, but I haven't been writing on this because I've been writing essays instead…not my choice, keep in mind.

Thank you, all reviewers.  You make me happy.  That is good.  I like being happy.  I hope this story can reach the hundred mark in reviews…last time I checked it was at 96 for Chapter 10, so I think it will, but you never know.  Oh, and I got a lot of reviews about what to do with Tohma, and yet I didn't really make anything remarkable happen to him.  Kind of an open, unresolved ending, but I like it, so there.  I hope you do too.

That's all.  That's the end.  No more, unless I get an extraordinary brilliant idea for a sequel, which is highly unlikely because I really don't do many things that are brilliant.  So, that's it.  There's nothing left.  Nothing more to come.  End.  Fin.  Owari.  Audios.  Sayonara.  Ja mata.  See you.  Goodbye.

The End.

Cassi.

o.o


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